A self-indulgent post on being grounded in snowstorms
Monday, December 21, 2009 at 2:13AM I'm stranded at the airport, and it looks like I'm going to be here for a long time. I arrived at half past five in the afternoon after fighting my way through a train network completely brought to its knees by what seems to be a Europe-wide snowstorm (it's the beginning of the end people). As I type out this impromptu blog post the clock on my laptop reads 00:52, and in four hours I'll be at the ticket counter praying, figuratively speaking, to have my previously cancelled flight re-booked for that same day.
Whereas you might think I'd be frustrated over this, I have been quite content the entire time. Joyful at times, believe it or not. Even as my mind and my patience slowly but surely evaporate, I can't help but feel that this simple yet somehow meaningful life experience is worth the trouble. Wouldn't life be horribly boring if things always turned out the way they were supposed to, or "if your flight always arrived on time" so to speak? Is it not equally important and fulfilling to have unpleasant experiences as it is to have pleasant ones? By thinking this way you will rarely loose your cool, but is it a sign of resilience or a sign of complacency? Is it truly a useful cognitive construct? And am I only being philosophical because my brain is in desperate need of REM sleep?
Time to get another Starbucks coffee.
Reader Comments (4)
You are not the first one to propose that same question;
"Would we be able to enjoy the good times without the bad times?
Good and bad is almost of the same coin and without each other they would be meaningless. Without bad things happening one would not experince the good things either and we all would live in a neutral boring world where nothing is or ever will be good or bad."
And so on.
I was slightly worried that my buss back to the parents would be cancled today due to said snowstorm but somehow taking part of your story it does not feel all that bad today, I just think we all need to be reminded that the bad times are good times too ;)
What is your E.T.A on getting back to Gotheburg for an extended period of time? :o)
Even the worst experiences are woth living. "it's life, dude!". Of course it's unpleasant and you've been sleeping somewhere at the airport (I guess) so it's also uncomfortable, but yes, it's worth for the reason you said. Thinking this way, you can overcome the "bad times" without so much pain, I would say: you do accept them as a natural part of life, considering life a flow of events most of all totally out of your control. This is what really bothers me: being out of control; I always try to find some causes, some actions, some whatever that I could have done to avoid the "bad situation" but in 99.99999999999% of the cases, it's impossible and frustrating!!! so, back to your point, you're definitely right man!
Enjoy your trip today and keep your "sweedish temper" at the ticket counter!!! I had been in your place, I would have done a proper Italian mess!!!
I felt exactly the same way when I intented to go home on friday. As the subway was on strike in Paris (like it often is), I left very early to catch my train. When I arrived to the station, it was full of people, crowded like a mall on christmas eve, and of course every single train was delayed of at least 30 minutes.
Nonetheless, it was quite funny, I too like this kind of moments. For me, snowstorm in Paris is like the end of the world, everyone sits everyone, people share information, food, it is certainly more christmassy than a regular day.
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