Getting on a plane yesterday, I slid into my aisle seat beside a man who appeared to be in his mid-30s, but I could only guess since tattoos covered his face. I’m not talking about a few face tattoos, but a complete graphical design from his chin, across both cheeks and even over the bridge of his nose. The older woman on the other side of this man seemed pressed to the window, as far from this man as she could get. She was probably relieved when the man pushed in earbuds, turned on his iTunes, pulled a hood over his head and bent his head down like he was praying.
This man’s music was so loud that I could hear the pulsing bass beat even when I had my earbuds in while watching a movie.
Partway through the movie–great news for me that it was Moneyball, one of my favorites–a flight attendant stopped at our row to offer beverages. When she asked if we’d like something, the tattoo-covered man raised his head, pulled out one earbud, and said, “Yes, ma’am.”
Wow, I thought. That’s not what I expected. He said ma’am.
He followed that with: “May I please have coffee with two sugars?” And he smiled. It was a great, friendly, warm smile.
Well, there you go, I thought to myself: Don’t develop expectations based on how someone looks. Although this guy seemed to terrify the woman sitting beside him, I started getting the feeling that he just might be one of the nicest people on the plane.
Later in the flight, he pulled off his hood and turned off his music as we were starting our descent. He leaned forward to see out the window and smiled. He turned to me and said, “I haven’t seen that in eight months.”
Instead, he’d spent the past eight months in Afghanistan, where he was a civilian contractor to the marines. He helped to modify their vehicles to improve the odds of survival after running over a mine. He’d be home for just two weeks, and then back to Afghanistan.
He mentioned loving the great things to do and places to eat in his hometown of Austin, Texas, where we were landing. So I asked him where he wanted to eat first.
“Home,” he said.
Well, welcome home, my friend. Enjoy your visit, come back safe soon and thanks so much for reminding me: Don’t judge.
Wow, cool post. I