The Reality of Opportunity

I stood in the corner quietly fuming.  After working a ten hour flight, and not really eating, as crew meals are never vegan, and rarely vegetarian, I was tired and grumpy.  The littlest situations would upset me, and when I was reprimanded by the customs agent for not waiting in the correct line, that was enough for me to want cry.  It was a small incident, inconsequential, but I was bothered.  I was met in my corner by a colleague, who, as he walked up, Thai passport in hand, placed the Declaration Form between the pages.  He looked at me, not knowing that I was anything but happy, and said that if he was traveling on his own time to the United States, he would have been asked so many questions.  He said that he was so lucky to have a visa.  He said that he was so thankful for this job.  He said that he was so grateful to be cabin crew.

In that moment, I knew that I had just been reprimanded a second time.  I was there, picking fights, and pouting over customs, frustrated about waiting in line, and there are some people- many people that don’t even have the option to wait in this line.  People that don’t even have the hope that they could ever be doing what I do.  As an American, the world is SO accessible to me.  I have so many opportunities! I have always had so many opportunities.  I forget that my reality is not the reality for most.

I just got back from Oslo two days ago.  I’m going again next week.  This is my reality.  

There was a moment, while on one of my many adventures years ago,  that I had wished, and dreamed of being International Cabin Crew.  I had watched the Lufthansa cabin attendants as they walked through the Frankfurt airport, wondering what it was like to be them, and wanting to be walking through an airport like they were.  I thought that was an experience that I would never have the opportunity to live.  And then I did.  It’s what I am doing now.

And sadly, I haven’t been very excited.  There has been a cost to this opportunity, costs that I have allowed to overshadow the beauty of this new adventure, which in turn robs me of the moment.  There are many ways to look at situations.  With every opportunity in life, there is always something that will be lost, but if loss is what is constantly focused on, loss is what will always be had.  

Today is a day to refocus.  It’s the day to say that the world is full of possibilities, and the place that I am in is EXACTLY where I am meant to be now.  Tomorrow is tomorrow, with it’s own worries and concerns.

But today, I am here.  I am alive.  I am ready.

I have been GIFTED this opportunity, and I will take it on with a smile.

It’s a wonderful opportunity at that…(my first time in Oslo City).