This past weekend I flew to San Francisco and back. With Mr. Beitelman's lecture on the science of fear fresh on my mind, I actually for the first time felt a little scared when the flight took off. I never get scared when flying but for the first time, I imagined the plane losing control and plummeting towards the ground. I thought about dying because I was blown apart by the force of the plane hitting the ground. Whew, believe me it was not a pleasant thought. It's funny what thoughts of death can lead to. I began to think about which one I would prefer: instant death or prolonged death. Who knows. Through instant death you can die with the pain of an instant rather than a century. However, you can't say bye to the one's you love or accomplish those last minute necessary tasks. Prolonged death allows you to do that, but what would life be like if you were constantly reminded that it was soon going to end? Those of us who don't know when and how we are going to die live without accepting the reality of death. And one day, it hits us that at some point all that we have ever known will vanish. It's scary!
Haha, I cannot believe I went through all of this within those first 10 minutes of the plane ride. Eventually, my conclusion was: thinking about this could drive a person insane. So I shoved it from my mind.
On a side note: Ironically, on my back to Birmingham, I sat next to an Air Force pilot who was talking about how his worst flight was the flight he took right after learning about all of the malfunctions that could happen with a plane. :)
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