Seeing Things Differently

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Have you ever seen anything that was so different, that you couldn't quite comprehend what you were seeing? I'm talking about things like seeing the Aurora Borealis for the first time, or green thunderclouds, or a bug that looks like a leaf. It takes a few seconds to process sometimes. Maybe a few minutes, depending on what it is or who you are…

There was the time when I was at a friend's place and we were walking past her brother's room. It was the 1980's and it was a younger brother, so the décor was very much the young teenager look. Blacklight posters, clothes on the floor, bed unmade - wait, I think I'm describing my kid's room right now!

Anyway, there was a speaker on a shelf in the corner of the room. The music was on and as I looked over, I noticed a dancing flame, seemingly floating in the middle of the speaker. It was a real fad for a while, to have a flickering light look like a flame, for that oh-so-special "mood lighting". Still, it looked really real, so I turned to the mom in the house and said, "Is that supposed to look like that?"

In a heartbeat, Mom was running into the room, grabbing a towel or a sock or some underwear from the floor and frantically beating the speaker with the cloth. A couple other people ran about, getting all excited and there was a mention of "FIRE" and so on. I just stood there looking around at all the excitement, trying to figure out what I said to cause all this commotion. Someone finally turned off the stereo, the flames were beaten into submission and all was well.

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I was even congratulated on discovering the fire and saving the entire house from the conflagration. I just thought it was a cool looking speaker and was wondering where I could get a pair.

Another time, I was on a trip to Australia with two of my friends. For two of us, flying in a large plane was not a new experience. For my buddy Murray, it was a first, so we let him have the window seat for the departure. I believe it's always better to have an aisle seat. You're closer to the bathrooms and closer to the drink cart. But I digress.

As we started the takeoff roll, Murray was glued to the window. We were just forward of the wings and as we gained speed, the ends of the wings started to flex up and down. Murray took a look at this for a few seconds and turned to me and asked "Are they supposed to do that?"

Without batting an eye, I said, "Of course. How else do you think we get airbourne if we can't flap the wings?" Murray looked at Cliff, who, straight faced, nodded silently in agreement. It was a good trip.

Another time my father was traveling on a commuter plane for an hour flight back home. An engineer was in the window seat and was reading a book for a little bit and constantly looking out the window. As they were on descent, the engineer looked over to one of the Flight Attendants as she walked by checking seats. "Is there supposed to be a flame out the back of the engine?" he asked.

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The attendant looked out the window, got wide-eyed and hurried forward to the cockpit. The next thing you knew, the instructions for an emergency were being broadcast over the PA system and the fire trucks were lining the runway when they landed.

It turns out the flames had started just after takeoff and the engineer had seen the flames then, but thought it was normal for a propeller driven plane to have un-commanded flames shoot out of the back of the engine. Go figure.

So keep your eyes open for new and unusual things and remember that if at first it doesn't make sense, give it a second (or a minute) and someone will explain it to you. And always have a way out…