Airports

By Raphael Nepomuceno

I just flew into Phoenix, Arizona through Sky Harbor International Airport. It was a very busy airport. The heat outside the airport was remarkable. People waiting to pick-up individuals; hugs and kisses given to those welcomed. Earlier in the morning, I was just at the James Armstrong Richardson International Airport in Winnipeg. People of all kinds, young and old, families and friends present in the early hours of the morning. I then flew to Calgary, and awaited my connecting flight to Phoenix. Being the Stampede weekend, people wore cowboy hats, even the gate attendants from Westjet. One could see the faces of people who went to the festivities, children and adults alike.

Such are the scenes of airports globally. Each has its own feel, its own uniqueness. However, every airport shares the spectrum of human emotions, of human optimism and despair and of welcomes and good-byes.

How often do we hear in the news families of soldiers who await the body of a loved one who died fighting in a foreign war? Such is the feeling of sadness. However, how many times do we also see the anticipation of waiting for a special somebody? It could be a young man holding a bouquet of flowers for his fiancée who has been away for a while. It could be a family welcoming a group of relatives who are about to start a new life in Canada. Such are the emotions that if one can stay even for just an hour and observe the events in an airport, one would see the peaks and valleys of the human heart.

Airports can be dioramas of unfortunate despair. Many are forced to travel to visit dying family members or pay respects to somebody who passed away. Such are unwanted but necessary trips to the airport. The despair while awaiting one’s flight and one’s luggage at the carousel can be numbing at times.

Conversely, I have seen experiences of pronounced optimism, whether it is going through the airport to fly to a different city for a job interview or for a wedding. During my residency interviews, I flew half a dozen times for interviews coast-to-coast, feeling both inspired and excited about different residency prospects across Canada.

Much like our driveway, the train station, the passenger ship dock or the bus depot, the airport is a place of welcomes and good-byes. However, airports are even more dramatic for the associated distances that planes cover. For within ten minutes, a plane that just left is now hundreds of kilometers away. For within 24 hours, the person from the other side of the world is now within your embracing arms.

Much like airports, our lives are affected by sadness and happiness. Like it or not, airports are scenes of both heart-breaking and heart-warming stories. Our lives experience that too. The only difference is, sometimes, only we ourselves are witnesses to some of the personal joys and pain that one has; no other passengers witness it.

Much like airports, our lives experience their own departures and arrivals. Loved ones pass away and special individuals come into our lives. The only difference is, unlike airplanes, people come and go in our lives without a flight schedule. Unfortunately, some airplanes in our lives just do not return anymore. Many times, the best we can do is welcome back the ones that do.

Raphael is a member of ANAK. He just finished his family medicine residency and is now doing extra training in Global Health, which means more visits to the airport.

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