Top Exec Blog (Web Log)

The two travelers approached the airport customer check-in line from different directions. One was a family man with a young wife and infant child. The other, a more seasoned veteran of airports and travel challenges, was traveling alone. In a brief moment of interaction the former accused the latter of trying to take cuts in a line that was interrupted by a woman sorting her luggage, whilst sitting on the floor.

Tempers heated up. The older guy defended himself, saying he’d waited patiently while the other guy and family took their places in line. Then he went on to say there was no need to be rude and in fact he had waited courteously while the man and his family took their place. The young father carried on, saying that in fact the older guy was trying to cut in the line. At one point the young father moved aggressively towards the middle-aged traveler, as if to strike him, in response to a snide comment, but the wife prevailed and settled him down. There was more verbal sparring, and sharp glaring looks, and finally, with the wife pleading for her husband to forget it, and stop quarreling, the interaction ended.

As an observer, I wondered what it would take for the two to realize that their interaction and heated tempers warranted an apology. Even as I watched, they continued to wind in the snake-like line, separated only by one other passenger, till they both reached the ATM-like check-in machines side-by-side, each ignoring the other as best as possible. What would it take to say, “Sorry, I over reacted. I apologize if I upset you (or upset your wife)”. Yet it didn’t happen.

They continued on, passing from the check-in to security clearance and on into the vast waiting areas of an International airport, yet no apology came. What might have happened, if one or the other had acted on his Christian or Jewish or Muslim (or any other value system) precepts, and turned the other cheek, offering an “I didn’t mean to upset you, sorry”.

Would the world have been made a better place? Would the individuals involved have felt less stress, more peace? Who knows, but it caused me to think and ponder as to why we so often boil inside and leave things unresolved. What holds us back from saying something as simple as, “I regret what happened. Sorry.”? I know, for one, that the next time something like this happens to me, I hope to be grown-up enough to speak out loud and say it. Whether I’m right or whether I’m wrong, the lesson learned is to speak up, be mature enough to say it, and make sure not to leave an apology unspoken.

Thanks for reading.

© Daniel A. Cabrera, TopExec.org, All rights reserved, 2009.

For other perspectives from me, specifically on Latin America, see this blog: http://latinknowhow.blogspot.com