OUCH! Once Upon A Time

by Reg Green

Shuffling along in an immense line at Dulles airport recently, losing, finding and losing again my driver’s license, and praying that when I took off my belt to go through security and put my hands on my head, my pants wouldn’t fall down, a voice behind me said, “Air travel isn’t what it was, is it?”

Perhaps it never was. On my first plane ride in the early 1960s a fellow passenger said, “Your first flight? It isn’t like it used to be.”

It makes me wonder: as he stepped off the Flyer on December 17, 1903, did Orville whisper to Wilbur? “Well, it was ok. But not as good as I thought it would be.”