Airplane Etiquette

Recently, there was an airline stewardess who made a video with her thoughts on airplane etiquette. The biggest pushback and angry comments she received was when she suggested if asked to move your seat to allow family members to sit together, to be considerate and do it unless you have a valid reason that you can’t. She reminds us that traveling isn’t as glamorous or as fun as it used to be, it has become a stressful event that we use to get from one place to another. Suzy.says (her TikTok account) reminds us that bringing kindness into the mix has the potential to make it more enjoyable for all. Suzy says, “I like to think that we live in a world where kindness and consideration are valued. When we do something for someone out of sheer kindness, with no expectation, it makes them feel good, and just as important, it makes YOU feel good. I believe we need more kindness in the world, especially when we travel”. 

Against my better judgment, I went to the comment section of the video and the responses to her suggestion pretty much had the same theme. 
-“I paid for my seat for a reason. Anyone else lack of planning or willingness to pay is not my concern”.
-“I’m sick of people thinking just because they have kids they are entitled to my seat”.
-“I think people should be kind enough to not ask me to move seats”.

These are all valid points, right? But I think the spirit of what the airline stewardess is saying is missed. She’s pointing out what is happening in every drive-through lane, in every grocery store, in every restaurant these days. Things just do not feel like they used to and so we become unkind to one another. We are mad someone wants to take what is rightfully ours. We want the food to be fast and taste good like it used to be. We want the items shipped, like, yesterday. I’ve been frustrated and unkind as well. 

Philippians 2:3-4 reminds us, “instead of being motivated by selfish ambition or vanity, each of you should, in humility, be moved to treat one another as more important than yourself. Each of you should be concerned not only about your own interests, but about the interests of others as well”. Or, as theologian Toby Mac put it on his Facebook page recently, “stay kind. It makes you beautiful”.
Ceci