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Airport
Gate
The
technology had failed once again. A computer system somewhere beyond
oblivion had overbooked the flight the many anxious voyagers at
the gate were waiting to board. The frustration was palpable. It
lit up the room.
Then,
from nowhere (heaven perhaps) a violin. An Elizabethan melody began
to echo from the body of the instrument. As if by design, a troupe
of dancers. And laughter.
Seated
I watched
this turn of events as both a member of the assembled audience and
also as a disdainful patron. I'd been aboard this same airline in
the past and was among those (whom I like to think of as the cognoscenti)
who knew that over capacity was always a problem. It was business
policy. The sudden appearance of the music and the violin quelled
the emotions. Being a sceptic, I remained somewhat cynical at first.
“Sure,” I said to myself, “Get us wound up and then try to salve
our anger.” Yet, David's harp worked for King Saul.
My cynicism
soon melted. The display of dance adding to the delight of music
became an artistic mélange that satiated my more primal instincts
(the desire to destroy the technology that caused the mix-up in
the first place).
Shortly
thereafter, the request was made for some passengers to give up
their seats in exchange for free passes and tickets on another airline.
Computers
are marvellous machines. What they take they can also give.
Our
entertainers were the first to oblige. Graciously volunteering to
travel without us. Perhaps, I had let go of my apprehension about
the so-called “technological mix-up” too soon.
10,000
Feet
Watching
Vancouver fade as the flight ascended, I began to feel the tug as
my home became more unreachable. The course I'd chosen for the future
became permanent.
I'd
chosen to leave school for the year and commence working for a technology
company in Silicon Valley. I'd spent the summer pondering the decision.
Choosing this career path meant leaving my beloved wife in Vancouver
for the remainder of the school year as she finished the final year
of a degree in the Fine Arts. My remaining in Silicon Valley meant
that she would be able to complete the degree without us spending
another year struggling on a student budget.
Compromised?
I gazed
out the aeroplane's portal window. Piercing the horizon to the east
were the tall mountains the Sto:lo people of my hometown call The
Sisters: Mt. Baker, Mt. Rainier and Mt. Hood. They have been trading
with the people who live beneath them since time immemorial. I think
to myself: “What kind of wonder is this technology that allows us
to gaze down at mountain tops?”
The
view of the Cascade Mountain range from the window of an aeroplane
is a view of one of Creation's masterpieces.
33,000
Feet
The
flight attendant brought the drinks and the mid-flight snack. I
reached into the basket, and my eye caught a piece of laminated
paper with an image on it. My curiosity struck, I reached for it.
The airline had printed the words of the Shepherd of Bethlehem on
the paper, songs of praise to the creator: “I will be glad and rejoice
in you; I will sing praise to your name O most high.” Psalm 9:2
Perhaps
an apology from the flight crew and the passengers for intruding
into the vantage that before the invention of manned flight was
the sole purview of the Creator?
Landing
Finishing
the meal I continued to revel in the glory of mountains and pure
sky. We began our descent and I turned off the computer upon which
I was chronicling the strange and ironic flight. I had brought the
Economist with me (a nice light read) and flipping through the pages
came upon a review of a book written by a famous physicist recording
his relationships with the men whose science came to define the
last century. A particularly interesting observation was chronicled
in the piece, one accredited to John von Neumann, the inventor of
the modern computer, who is said to have noted “I don't know how
really useful this will be.”
I laughed.
The usefulness was embodied in my journey: A computer is a machine
whose failure is an excuse for violins and dance. It is used to
record the memory of such strange events on trips into the heavens.
Copyright
© 2000 Robert Delamar All Rights Reserved
Robert
Delamar has officially left hearth and home for the riches of Silicon
Valley. He'd like to take this opportunity to make a public service
announcement: *spark-online remains as Canadian as June hockey in
California. He's the Managing Editor of *spark-online.
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