Those who have passed through the U.A.E. on their way to Iraq or Afghanistan are already familiar with what has been dubbed by travelers as the "Axis of Evil" Terminal. I'm sure most, if not all Westerners who pass through Terminal 2 for the first time are immediately struck by two facts:
- Terminal 2 is a very far taxi ride away from the main area of the airport
- Every flight arriving to and departing from Terminal 2 just happens to be from Iraq, Afghanistan or Pakistan (I haven't see Iranian flights, but if there are any to and from the U.A.E. I'm sure they go through Terminal 2)
The first time I looked up at the arrival/departure display in Terminal 2 I couldn't help but chuckle to myself and pull out my camera for a shot.
I had an unexpected treat recently while transiting through the "Axis of Evil" terminal which made my transfer a true delight. I happened to be near the Kandahar departure line and saw a tall, heavy set Anglo appearing man with dreadlocks walk up and stand on line. A moment later he turned in my direction and I caught a glimpse of his shirt. On the front read "Fat People Are Hard To Kidnap".
I had trouble containing myself. Seeing the gentleman, reading the shirt, all while being in the environment we were in, ranked one of the funniest things I have seen in my years of travel. I soon approached the man and asked if I could take a shot of him without showing his face and he was happy to allow me the opportunity.
Solo, it is funny how Joi Ito on his blog says that the UAE blocked his Twitter with a message that it is against their culture and you should take this picture there. The more I look at this picture, the more I see the real humor is how this reflects that movie starring Tom Hanks called Terminal.
There is a greater awareness for me in viewing this, for it reinforces to me that in this homogeneous world of travel we all of us who are privileged to utilize it, and that this world can only change for the better when we start opening our eyes through the lens of what unites us rather than that which divides.
I think that nothing fundamental can change by looking through the lens of pain other than exchanging structures, for that is not how a doctor looks at a patient, a doctor looks at the cure not simply the prevention and when our humor makes us intelligent, we have a better tool in which to so operate. Yet I do not view the world as a disease, for otherwise I am the virus and not the white cell of change.
Turning humor into hope rather than a therapy is one of the things I wish to explore in my own path, but IMHO we have to get our minds out of the airport to really see the whole picture and then we can really realize fully what this new powerful vehicles of insight can do to improve our own intelligence. I don’t want to make a habit of taking up regular occupancy here, but my experiences here have lifted my intelligence the week I have spent here and so I am thankful for that and yes I can see the humor here, so long as I laugh with the world and not at the world, and then I am adding a tiny bit more to the quality of my awareness.
I quite like what the guys at Mahalo did with this Dopplr video, Mahalo means something divine, doppler can be equated with making waves of change and it is meant to be a benefit to future travellers - we have increasingly better technology, but it is my own responsibility to travel with imagination.
M.
Sean, thanks for stopping by at my online condo on the web. Besides this act of respect, what I would recommend in terms of looking thinking about the nature of mindset is reading “The lie that tells a truth : a guide to fiction writing by John Dufresne” - IMHO the art of fiction writing and emergent exploration has synergies and this book does a good job of detailing the mind of an author rather than the mind of an authority, (and the last thing I wish to be is an expert, a journey is a form of continuous improvement, but expertise is a finished merchandise and I do not want to be the merchant of virtual).
I personally view the act of observing others simply turns life into a zoo; but I foolishly understood Plato’s Cave metaphor coupled with the Krishnamurti criteria, “the observer is the observed”, and as a total simpleton I figure that the only way to practice wisdom is to apply practical wisdom, [real smart people out there call that "phronesis"], but I am not smart at all, just mildly and ignorantly intelligent. Again thanks for allowing me to be a guest in your cyber home this week.
M.
syven, i gotta tell you, molly and i tried to find out more about you over at “alwayson” and we didn’t get too far. what are you up to in the not-so grand scheme of things?
In the not so grand scheme of things I am blessed to have a lot of loving and smart people around me.
The central part of my existence are still the eight kids in my home, but also whatever my business partners require from me and of course what I personally and most visibly explore online, beyond that I have nothing else to declare so I will proceed via the green exit of your cyber airport :-)
I am going to buzz off now not only because you guys are way more cool looking than me aka at spock.com but I do have a personal journey to undertake and log, and I will from time to time drop by and see what’s cooking here but in the meantime I also want visit a whole bunch of new and diverse blogs that most people don’t ever bother checking up on.
Anyway I really want to stop taking up valuable cyberspace time about me, as Shakespeare might have said if he were alive today, “Once more unto the google, dear friends, once more”…
M.