Fear of Falling

It’s often hard to grasp how fragile your life is when your feet are safely planted on the ground, taking away the fear of falling. However, this thought becomes quite clear once you dangle someone’s life 36,000 feet into the sky on a steal bird where the laws of gravity are your only friend. For the full two hours my feet were in the air this summer as I was traveling to Kansas, this thought kept replaying in my mind. Every time the plane hit an air pocket, which led me to grasp the arm rest as if this act would keep my life intact, I fully understood how fragile my one life could be.

I’ve always believed that we were put onto this Earth to fulfill a purpose and once that purpose was fulfilled, we would simply move on for the next person to take our place. However, the thought of whether or not I have fulfilled my purpose haunts me every day. As I was looking out the window aboard the tiny aircraft, I couldn’t help wondering if today was the day that God would send me home, when a small cry interrupted my thoughts. It was coming from a nearby toddler in the back of the airplane. He couldn’t have been more than a year old, so small and so fragile, like my own body; however, a year couldn’t be enough time for this tiny toddler to fulfill his own purpose.

Even though I had never met this toddler, I felt some sort of connection to him, both spiritually and emotionally. I felt a connection to all the other 49 passengers on the airplane, who were all complete strangers, yet we had one thing in common: we all had a fear of falling. Whether it be our time or not, we always wondered if these were the last people we would spend time with had our plane fell out of the sky that day and even though I had never met these people or hugged them or talked to them, I loved them.

When our plane finally landed on the ground of the Kansas City International Airport, I felt a sigh of relief and thanked God that today wasn’t my day and that not only I, but the other 49 passengers had another day to fulfill our purpose, whatever it may be. I believe that as humans, we are all connected in some way, even though it may take 36,000 feet for us to realize this and that one more day is another day to leave my mark on the world. This I believe.