Flying

I am not someone who's especially fond of heights. I trust modern airlines to be safe and I know that it is far safer to travel by air than by car. However, if I was to have a super-power, the ability to fly would not be my first choice.

That being said, I am able on the plane to look out the window and marvel at how quickly the ground below gets so far away when the aircraft takes off. The people, then cars, then some whole buildings vanish from sight. One of the strangest feelings for me is being above the clouds. Looking down on what is meant to be above gives the strange feeling of power- a strange super-natural power. “I shouldn't be able to see this. I shouldn't be able to climb this high,” I always think. I remember as a 5 year old, on my first flight alone being nervous. My stomach would gently turn as the plane took off, shooting like a rocket straight up into the sky. Would we make it? Would the plane level off or would be plummet from an awesome number of feet (the numbers of which my adolescent brain couldn't even count up to) back to the ground at speeds I have never experienced before? Somehow I knew we were save, but it was always a little nerve-wracking and almost fun to pretend that we won't make it.

People were certain for thousands of years, that the human race would never be able to fly. Flying was something only for the birds and the angels. Despite the doubt, the Wright Brothers successfully took off in 1903 from Kitty Hawk, North Carolina to the amazement of the world. Today, we have jets that can flight faster then the speed of sound, rockets that can take us to the moon, and air-travel is considered one of the safest and certainly the speediest way to travel. We thought it couldn't be done, yet here we are.

I know that air-travel is possible thanks to modern science, physics, mathematics, etc. but it's amazing to me still. We are the only species on the planet that can achieve such a feat because it took great bravery and intelligence to create the machine that enables us to do so. I know it's something we take for granted and not general taught of as a miracle, but when every time the plane takes off from the runway, I remember my five-year old mouth dropping in awe. The fact the humans can fly, to me personally, is evidence of higher powers at work. We can fly because humans were given the gift of intelligence. The fact that we can watch a sunset from above the clouds, flying through the clouds raining, and descend peacefully with nothing more than a few minor bumps on the road, is something of a miracle.