Imagine you’re an eagle, soaring up high in the ocean of blue sky and puffy white clouds, chasing the sun far on the horizon. Down below are the colorful lands and water, what would you be thinking about?
I always associate flying with freedom, it is very cliché of me, but nevertheless, it is a powerful perception when it’s truly lived out and expressed. Today, we are fortunate because of our ability to fly around the world, seeing places we have never thought of visiting before due to limited transportations. The world seems to be more connected now because of airplanes, yet some places are not really accessible because of political issues, and this to me is very sad. Moreover, not everyone can fly because airplane tickets are not cheap. So, how many of us have actually flown? And how did (do) we treat flying? Is there anything more about flying to be appreciated, and to be grateful about other than a mere transportation?
I was fourteen when I first stepped into an airplane, and I remember the excitement of discovering something new, and how curious I was about the science of this flying metal—it was magical. However, this sensation of discovery and curiosity have dissipated throughout the years, and flying was eventually desensitized, slowly loosing its meaning and value in the repetition of doing it over and over again. Consequently, when someone on the airplane got excited about flying for the first time, I tend to belittle (quietly) his or her excitement because there’s nothing exciting about flying anymore (to me). I only realized how negatively haughty my thinking was when I sat next to a little boy with his mother on a flight back to Sabah from Kuala Lumpur. The boy asked his mother questions about the airplane, and his curiosity invoked nostalgia of my first encounter with airplane. His curiosity in general was precious and beautiful, something that I have lost, but it found me in this flight.
So, yes not everyone can fly, and yes, although we can fly not every place on Earth is accessible. However, do these take away the sense of freedom that associated with flying? No, I don’t think so, because the basis of freedom is curiosity, and curiosity is free. And to be curious is to be able to think, imagine, discuss, and create freely without limit; this is a flight of liberty, it is more powerful than flying physically on an airplane. So going back to my first question: if you were an eagle, soaring up high in the open sky, what would you be thinking about?