Flying Home

 Alright, so I haven't been so great at logging onto my account lately, but I have been writing a bit each day, even if it hasn't been posted here. I need to make a habit of visiting this site more often! Anyhow, this past Wednesday I flew back to Utah from Hawaii. My laptop was already dead when I was attempting to work on my PSA article a little more, when I had an interesting train of thought provoked by the beautiful sunset I was privileged to see from some 15,000 feet in the air. I wish I could write down every brilliant thought that comes into my head but for some reason my memory and lack of focus do not seem to want me to do this. Luckily I had my phone on airplane mode by my side, and this is what I wrote:

As i flew back to utah from hawaii, i realized that dusk is my favorite time of day. The few moments where the sunlight gives everything a vivid orange tint makes the world seem so much like a painting, a work of art more than a physical space and being. Its such a different view to see the world from so high above the middle of the pacific ocean. Who knew man would see these skies, these uncharted, unlivable area of earth's terrain.

In 1893, Frederick Jackson Turner gave his renowned address at the Columbian Exposition, the Chicago Worlds Fair, dubbed the "Frontier Thesis." In it he identified the american frontier a critical component of the american identity, and with no new frontiers left to discover (in the west) at that turn of the century, what it meant to be an american had forever changed. Indeed our nation dispersed and settled into the vast north american continent, densifying our population then uniting it over periods of war and peace, of prosperity and depression. While the physical character of the (western) frontier was gone, it has transposed itself into all things we americans have ever done. The frontier became science, technology and outer space -- other-worldly things our ancestors may not have even dreamed of. While Turner has argued that american character changed as a result of this "loss" of a frontier, i would argue that the development of new and creative frontiers has only perpetuated the american character, enriching our country and allowing it to succeed over the past 100 years as it grew into a global "superpower."

The reason ive been pondering these things relates to the fact that im currently drafting out the psa article about transportation. The biggest factor allowing americans to explore new frontiers of all sorts has been the development of transportation methods and technologies over time. The horse allowed omnibuses to become the first mode of public transit allowing people to live further from the city center, consequently expanding the city itself. Then trains came furthering this trend while aiding long distance travel and shipping as well. Soon airplanes and rocket ships came along allowing people like me to travel home from college traveling thousands of miles in fraction of a day, multiple times a year. And if i wanted to (and could afford it) i could travel the same distance to visit exotic, distant lands like europe, just because. (Yes, Europe is very exotic to me!) This gives people the potential to be exposed to entirely new frontiers whenever and wherever we choose.

Transportation has revolutionized, globalized and developed the world into what it is today, a world where we cant imagine life without access to our cell phones, email accounts or computers. No one would argue the development of transportation technologies has been a bad thing for this world. For some reason development is almost always seen as progress, even when its not. Take the loss of the art and skills associated with masonry over time for example. Architects and construciton workers are now able to build tall, grand buildings, giant monolithic skyscrapers, but at the same time the things that are built don't last as long and are not as beautiful as, say, Gothic or Baroque style buildings. Assuming this is progress can be a valid assumption given the areas in which we have updated and improved our knowledge of the world (i.e. the world is round and revolves around the sun). However, writing this psa article is making me rethink the capability of human kind to know when to say stop, to know when enough is enough. We don't need buildings that are over a mile high (as they are building in Dubai), and we don't need every person on this earth to own a car. In Time magazine, I read that this year there will be 7 billion people on the earth. 7 billion. The world cannot handle 7 billion people, much less 7 billion automobiles. There simply is not the space or the infrastructure for that amount of cars. Pushing car sales in places like southeast asia only harms the ecology of place, community and the enviroment. No one gains anything from that....

[I wrote something brilliant here, then my phone decided to delete the last 3 sentences I wrote - sorry].

People would rather buy a car to show they can afford it than to get around. In short, transportation has increasingly become a luxury and social status symbol losing its functionality and practicality in everyday life.