Long post, my apologies to the fb gods who disapprove. Too bad just scroll on. But I had a sort of haunting experience yesterday in the airport that still bothers me. After the wealthy-looking man blew up about the delayed flight, ripped a $100 bill in half and yelled at the poor SW gate staff, I laughed, and said to another young man next to me. Think hes mad?! But quickly noticed the young man did not see the humor and looked quite anxious. Then we tried to speak to each other which was complicated at minimum. I think I first said, you also going to Mpls? and he said ahh? with another puzzled expression. And then I said Dallas?? (which was the flight listed before us which had been delayed several times already). The young man said, yes? in a question. He was small in frame, with perfect brown skin and deep brown eyes, dressed plainly but neatly, with just one smaller carry-on at his feet. I guessed he was about 15-16 years old. But after trying to figure out where he was going and why he was here, with 1-3 word phrases and lots of hand gestures, I believe he was heading to (Dallas) TX to work on his masters degree and had been a student in India (native). Hed been in the US for 2 days (not sure where or why?) for his first time here, and obviously knew very little English. He was confused about the delay so I said, lets go talk to the man and pointed to the SW gate service counter. He shook his head, nearly smiled, and walked with me. I shared my concerns with the airline attendant and the worker quickly understood the dilemma of the language barrier. He looked over the young mans papers and speaking in 1-3 word phrases just as I had, we figured out he had the wrong boarding pass and needed to get a voucher updated. The young man looked a bit hesitant after the conversation but I tried to assure him, now you are ok, you can wait right here. Although I knew it wasnt logical, by this time I had looked back to Steve with those strong mothering feelings as if to say, I think I should make sure he gets on the right flight and stay with him and I can just go home on a later flight, to which Steve returned to me a look that said, No, you cannot bring the puppy home. :) (This was non-verbal communication understood perfectly after being married 31 years). Eventually it was time to get on board for our flight to Mpls. He pointed to my phone and said something that made no sense to me, but I said, do you want to use this? He shook his head yes and I handed him my phone. After dialing wrong a few times he did make a connection with someone and he spoke hurriedly in another language. He returned the phone to me and again gave a half smile but still looked pretty nervous. It seemed he was making some progress in understanding his situation. Airports are nerving enough places, but I have to give this young man and others who do not speak English credit, traveling away from their homeland--alone--that has to be terrifying?!! I sure hope the young man from India is where he wants to be today!
Posted on: Sat, 16 Aug 2014 23:32:58 +0000
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