I saw this guy at the airport the other day when I left Orlando. This is where the Disney Magical Express stopped being magical.
It was very crowded and the line moved very slow and he seemed very bored, like he was very much wishing he were anywhere but here. You could read his mind: “You people think this long line is a nightmare? Well, I got to sit here ALL DAY staring at each one of you.” And he’s right.
I had twenty minutes to watch him as the line moved toward him. He’d look down blankly for a minute, then twirl his pencil, look hard into the eyes of each person for a moment, then stare at each boarding pass, license, and passport. You don’t want to be the TSA guy who let’s a terrorist thru, even though you know it’s none of these people. So you follow your routine, and try to concentrate, but for crying out loud, thousands of people, every day, day after day? It’s mind-numbing.
You know what he was to me? An object. Like the scanner machine you walk thru. He didn’t see me as human, and without thinking I took his cue and didn’t see him as human, either. Shame on me.
He didn’t invent flying, or terrorism, or the screening rules. He has to live with it just like I do. How hard is it for me to give a smile, a thank you, a little word of appreciation? Why would you even have to “be sensitive” or think about it? Just assume that no one ever get’s too much encouragement – because they don’t.
Anxiety in a man's heart weighs him down, but a good word makes him glad – Proverbs 12.25