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Monday, September 06, 2004
Flavier: The parable of the airplane ride
By Juan Flavier
THE farmer had an extreme phobia. He would rather die than ride on an airplane.
For some reason, the mere thought of being airborne made him dizzy and nauseous. He was sure such huge and heavy planes would nosedive and crash. And that would be a horrible way for him to die.
When his brother passed away, he could have gone to the city via a two-hour flight. He opted to ride the ship, which took all of three days.
This time, there was no choice. He had been successfully petitioned and was now migrating to the United States. He had to go by air. But still, he resisted and even postponed the trip several times just to avoid the plane ride.
But there was simply no way around it. He found himself buckled down in the massive Boeing 747 along with over 300 other passengers. Beside him was a priest who seemed to be unmindful of the danger of riding a plane. The farmer held onto both armrests with sweaty hands. His knees were shaking.
As the aircraft sped down the runway, his heart beat like never before. But after the successful take-off and after the plane smoothly settled down to its flight altitude, his nerves began to calm down.
The farmer actually began to enjoy himself what with the music, the movie, and the food and drinks. Then suddenly, a voice announced, "If you look to the left side, one of the engines on that side has stopped functioning. But no need for alarm because the three remaining engines can safely manage except for a delay of two hours. Sorry for the inconvenience."
The farmer began to shiver and sweat. His worst fear was unfolding before his very eyes. The voice on the intercom returned. "Ladies and gentlemen, the smoking engine on the ride side is no cause for alarm. It has been turned off and our two remaining engines will bring us straight to Los Angeles without any problem except for a delay of another three hours."
The farmer felt like fainting. He began to shake and sweat more profusely. As if to validate his feelings, the voice resumed and announced, "We are sorry to inform you that another engine is now also out of commission. But the last remaining engine can still get us to our destination. Of course, we will be delayed for another five hours."
"I knew this would happen!" the farmer blurted out to the shock of the other passengers. "And if the last engine malfunctions, I bet we will stay here in the sky the whole night!"
As an afterthought, the farmer glared at the priest beside him and implored, "Father, do something religious!"
The priest stood up and proceeded to make a collection.
(September 6, 2004 issue)
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