Friday, December 5, 2014
Hidemi’s Rambling No.531
I came across the special offer on the ticket of a low-cost carrier on
the Internet. I was going to take a trip to California in the holiday
season of next year and have saved money for it. But to take this
time-sale offer, I decided to bring forward the trip to next May and
booked it. Even though the fare is drastically discounted, the one
between Japan and US is still incredible for a cheap person like me who
spares money by the cent every day. Add to that the hotel stay and the
total is so astronomical that it almost makes me faint. Not only the
cost, but also the plan itself seems to be fantasy. The flight is six
months away and there are too many uncertainties for the plan to take
shape. What if an Ebola epidemic spread all over the world? Humans might
become extinct by the time of my flight. I wouldn’t exist let alone the
flight would be cancelled. What if Japan fell into default because of a
chain of its poor economic policies? Or, what if a strong earthquake
hit Tokyo as a rumor has been going about? I would be scouting around
food and supplies instead of packing for the trip. What if I got sick?
What if terrorism occurred and the airport security got tighter than
ever? It would be unbearable since I was once stopped at the security
check as their scanner spotted a coil on my notebook in my bag. What if
passengers on my flight started a fight over reclining the seat and the
plane made an emergency landing? What if I said a careless joke to a
flight attendant and got arrested as a terrorist? By booking the flight,
I paid a large sum of money and started the next six months until the
flight with various kinds of worries and all of what-ifs. Nevertheless,
both the considerable expense and all those anxieties can’t beat my
surprisingly strong desire to go to California. What I dread most is to
become dumb by staying put in a stifling, easy, unchanging country like
Japan…