In the world to come I shall not be asked, ‘Why were you not Moses?’ I shall be asked, ‘Why were you not Zusya?’Rabbi Zusya

Inner Life Directions

Expanding Reality

September 2014

  • Airlines and Profits

    The headline of the small article in the L. A. Times business section caught my eye, “Airlines’ Profits Rise 64%.” The 64% profits referred to was from April through June of this year. They collected $900 million in bag fees and $753 in reservations change fees. Data on other fees charged passengers are apparently not being collected. While gas prices have held steady during that period, consolidation of air carriers by reducing competition is thought to have played a role in this spike. During the second quarter of 2014 airlines earned $3.6 billion in profits. For the same quarter in 2013 they earned $2.2 billion. Also in 2013 the nation’s largest airlines collected $3.3 billion in checked bag fees while in 2008 that figure was $1.1 billion.

    It seems so obvious, the airlines’ profits are accrued at the expense of weary and burdened travelers. Most of us if we travel coach know that it is not fun to travel anymore. I wonder what it will take for travelers to say in the immortal words of Peter Finch’s character in the movie “Network”, “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore,” because while profits can be said to be part of a healthy economy, excessive profits enter another category altogether—one we shouldn’t subsidize with our discomforts.

  • Being Stateless

    Imagine not being able to have a birth certificate, or official registration that you were actually born, or even have any legitimate proof you exist. You would be hampered throughout life, each time you needed to show your identity, for school, health care, any number of services and activities. It’s one thing to follow through on John Lennon’s words, “Imagine there’s no country”, but it’s another not to belong to one in today’s world. In Nepal and Thailand thousands are believed to be stateless and not recognized by the state. Worldwide, some 10 million people are stateless, and the number is swelling in refugees camps like those of Syria, where thousands of births are not being registered. In the past 10 years some 4 million people were granted citizenship, and in 2008 Bangladesh formally recognized thousands of Urdu-speaking Biharis. Despite occasional efforts such as those, in human terms the consequences of statelessness are devastating. On a larger level experts say the overall numbers could be destabilizing, meaning that as those who are undocumented and stateless keep increasing, their number, some believe, could lead to a refugee crisis. The UNHCR (The UN refugee agency) held a forum in The Hague recently to draw attention to the issue and to help find solutions and will soon launch a global campaign to end statelessness—A welcomed effort underlining there’s a long way to go.

  • Waste of Time?

    Not far from Orlando, Fla. The Villages is a retirement community where the draw is that you can live like a millionaire on a budget. There is free golf and affordable housing. Happy hours begin at 11am, there is of course everything a retirement community could need or want, and, relevant for some, even the possibility for unlimited sexual encounters. I shared reading the rather long article with one friend who commented, “My definition of hell”. I shared it with another who said, “Would be quite boring.” Yet the communities are growing, attracting people from several states including many retirees from the CIA. The article didn’t mention any resident leaving, but there must be those who become satiated with a hedonistic lifestyle after a while and want to go elsewhere. There are those who no doubt define happiness in shallow terms, for whom non-stop fun is a good life. I would surmise, however, that for the many retirement is not a second childhood and needs to have some meaning—more than likely a meaning that would take them beyond their own pleasure. That may be why I can’t help wondering how many think along with me, about the waste of time, efforts, resources and opportunities such retirement communities represent.

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