Virginia Is For Families

It’s Christmas Eve and time to travel. Everyone is going somewhere for Christmas. There are some intrepid travelers who are going interstate for the holidays. And then there are some others not so adventurous who will remain at home and watch in amazement some of these travelers on television.

Right now I am looking at a passenger jet that has come to rest about ten feet from the Caribbean Sea in Kingston, Jamaica. The front part of the plane is parked at an odd angle and it is clear that the maintenance schedule will need to be moved up before it flies again.

Here’s the quote that I find interesting. Talking about the landing one passenger said “All of a sudden, when it hit the ground the plane was kind of bouncing.” It is reported that nobody was hurt too seriously although there was lots of pain and emotional suffering involved.

Amazing. These people were involved in a miracle! When your airplane crashes and you are able to talk about it the next day you have become a member of a very elite fraternity.

But let’s go back for a moment and examine this report by a passenger that the plane was “bouncing”. Clearly a passenger jet that is trying to stop on a runway needs to apply its brakes. And it is difficult to do this when the wheels are not making contact with the ground. There was another report that the flight crew gave up trying to serve drinks because of in-flight turbulence. Violent turbulence can actually cause an aircraft to crash when it is close to the ground.

Here is a brief explanation of wind shear.

There has also been a report in recent days about Amtrak passengers who were stranded along the NE corridor. And right here in Richmond at the bus terminal I recall a news report on the tube about a young woman who was stranded and ran out of her medication.

People are not getting where they want to go!!

What we really need to work on is the technology associated with the transporter. These were used in Star Trek to move people around because it would have taken too long to land the ship every time someone wanted to leave or come aboard.

Someday every home and business needs to have a transporter. Imagine being able to spend the evening on a great beach in the middle of the Pacific and be home in time to tuck the kids into bed. How great would it be to see your favorite team play their away games in person? And what would it be like to never again sit in a traffic jam and think ” I am a hostage to this transportation system”.

There is a downside to the idea of replacing our transportation system with transporters however. If someone pulls the plug while you are transporting you will probably endure a very painful death. No technology is ever going to be perfect. So the cat should be watched very carefully while it is being used.

But the upside far outweighs the downside. We could plant grass over highways and airports. We could develop communities that are not all bunched up around our cities. And they could be agrarian in nature. Local resources would be needed for electricity and water. It would be quite a challenge and there would doubtlessly be many debates over the way our new society should grow.

But let’s do ourselves a favor and use our imaginations to bring into focus some of these things. It will be tempting for some to cast a political skein over the whole idea and that means we will be shutting down much of what the future may have in store for us.

When you use your imagination you become a pioneer. And pioneers have no use for politicians.

Everything has its place and time in this world. If you have difficulty with your present situation there is always another one just over the horizon. You may not be able to imagine how you will get there. But it’s a lot like working out. Use your imagination. Strengthen it in any way you can.

Eventually you will wake up one day and find that things have changed in ways that you can appreciate. I have seen it happen. I promise you that it is so.

A Happy Holiday to everyone of you. And if you don’t have a holiday. . .

Imagine that you will have one.