I was mighty embarrassed to have a tear on my face from the airplane movie, but there was something about her learning how to read as a gift...I don't know. But I swore to myself I would never tear up on a plane again.
Then I flew back.
On the way back they showed "The Brothers Grimm" which I found weird and confusing. Confusing mostly because I couldn't really make out the images on the LCD screens that were hanging either a little too close or a little to far away from my eyeballs. Also confusing because I took my headphones off half way through to join the gaper's block in the aisle watching the woman who had fainted receive oxygen. (Kris, see how I subtly referenced "Gaper's block? As in www.gapersblock.com of which you are a founder and a featured writer? You're welcome.)
So no, it was not the Brothers Grimm nor the collapsed woman that brought me to full on crying tears during the flight. Nor was it the Linda Eder hosted special about horses after the movie where she interviewed Leanne Rimes. Nor was it the random music video of Johnny Cash singing "Walk the Line." No friends, I'm tough as steel when it comes to all that.
Here is where I am weak, there are three things really. I feel tricked, duped, manipulated by each of them every time...but they still make me cry...a lot.
1) 9/11 stuff
2) Sincere patriotism
3) The Olympics
So, I'm sitting on the plane and they start talking about the Olympics. And getting us into personal stories about the trials and tribulations of bobsledders and speedskaters. Reminding us of the hilarious drama that is figure skating etc etc...and then they talked about the Olympics of 2002 and showed this image which I'd sort of forgotten about.
Do you remember this? It was the beginning of the opening ceremonies and these American athletes came out with the WTC flag and there was a moment of silence among everyone, from every country. When I saw this on the plane, I remembered seeing it live and how it caught everyone off guard and we all settled into quiet tears. Because, watching this live, reminded us of watching that actual day live. And so I cried again a little on the plane. And it occurred to me that everyone who experienced this in any way, whether first hand or via television will always be linked back to it on a long chain of reminders like the one I had on the airplane. And as much as we all hate everything, and we all hate Bush and we all hate politics and we all love McDonalds and we all yadda yadda about this country...none of which I disagree with by the way, and as much as we all wish desperately that we knew how to drive and had a job so that we could go live in Canada...there is no American person who can honestly say they aren't somehow affected by this image. At those Olympics, it was the first time I remember other countries taking our country seriously. Each time an American won the gold in anything, and the American flag was lowered from the ceiling that athlete would completely shatter with emotion. I hadn't realized until that day on the plane how much I remembered those Olympics, and how moving the whole thing was.So, here my friends, I have admitted to you my one and only "All American" soft spot. It's the Olympics. (And also sometimes I tear up during the star spangled banner, and also I tear up at war memorials.) I don't like sports, I don't like Americana, I don't even like American cheese that much. But when it comes to the Olympics, "USA USA USA USA!" (Except in figure skating where I want the people with the prettiest outfits to win and the ugly ones to fall. This year we root up with Kwan, down with Cohen.)
Super bowl shmuper bowl...prepare yourself for some Kwan, Ohno, and other US Olympic coverage coming to the blog this February!!
6 comments:
can't go to canada...they're run by crazy people now too! KWAN all the way! we should have a party to watch her skate. my house? MAYBE!
hooray! a kwanathon!
I missed you! Speaking of 9/11, you should have seen that Flight 93 TV movie. Full of passengers calling their wives and mothers on cell phones. Ugh!
david!
i ned to come teach you macros and hang out with you soon. also, i caught the tail end of flight 93, but it didn't make me cry because my friend convinced me that flight 93 was actually shot down by the US before it could reach Washington and then the "Let'em Roll" story was developed by the government so that we could have a tale of courage among all the tragedy. So I would probably be more curious about that movie than sad...But, who knows right?
call me soon!
B
What kind of evil friend do you have? Did Kris Vire tell you this? What about all of the people that actually were called from those poor people trapped in that plane? Now that I have a laptop I can maybe even meet you somewhere to learn MACROS. Believe me this script formatting thing is driving me crazy. One of my characters is named Earl-Jean, and the hyphen drives me nuts.
Now you made me cry...Unlike you, I cry at everything (I seriously embaressed myself at Brokeback Mountain TWICE becase I started crying BOTH TIMES an hour into the movie....I digress...)but I feel exactly the same way you do about the Olympics. I become a crazed American during those weeks.
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