Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Enlightenment at the San Francisco Airport



Traveling, and therefore spending a lot of time in airports, gives one plenty of time to observe a cross-section of America. The people watching is prime, and the idle time to contemplate life is plentiful.

On a recent trip to San Francisco, I spent about five hours in the Northwest terminal at San Francisco International Airport. There were very few flights coming and going, and it was rather late in the day. Hence, my people watching opportunities were not as abundant as I was accustomed to.

So I spent the better part of two hours in the terminal's tiny bookstore skimming through magazines and reading the back covers of books for sale. After a few minutes of staring at the book shelf, I started to notice a trend in the titles I was seeing.

These are exact book titles I observed:

"You Staying Young"
"You Can Heal Your Life"
"Stop Whining Start Living"
"Your Best Life Now"
"Go Green, Live Rich"
"50 Simple Ways to Save the Earth and Get Rich Trying"
"A New Earth--Awakening to Your Life's Purpose" (currently Oprah's book club selection)
"Awakening the Entrepreneur Within"
"Become a Better You"
"The 360 Degree Leader"

I found myself wondering, could each of these books really offer something vastly different from the other? Apparently so since some carried the NYT "Best Seller" badge on their jackets. A lot of people are paying a decent sum of money to stay young, heal their lives, start living, live their best life, awaken their life's purpose, awaken their inner entrepreneur, and so on and so forth.

My first instinct was to make fun of these potential snakeoil salesmen trying to make a buck by recycling other people's stories of inspiration. But after mulling it over for a bit, I came to a different conclusion.

People want to be inspired. I know I do. I love e-mail forwards that make me take a few seconds out my work day to think (and I mean really think) or a good story that makes my eyes sting with tears I am trying to hold back.

I remember the way I felt after reading one of my favorite books: "The Alchemist." I was moved to think about what I really want to do in life, or as its author Paulo Coelho would say "follow my personal legend." So maybe someone else's "Stop Whining Start Living" is to them what "The Alchemist" was to me. People want to be inspired, and I see nothing wrong with that.

Monday, April 14, 2008

Seeing God in Mt. Rainier?


Just read something pretty neat from my brother-in-law. It was an account of how his perspective was changed by looking out the window from his coach seat on a flight from Detroit to Seattle. Upon suggestion from the pilot, he peeked out the window to see a beautiful view of Mt. Rainier. He wrote in his planner the date, May 3, 2003. "I saw God in Mt. Rainier today."

I think I saw God today, April 14, 2008, in that story. Thanks for sharing it Dan!

Can't wait to see where this can go...