Pathways and Triggers 39could scan the skies for oncoming aircraft), and had to
review the emergency instruction card before the plane
took off. I knew these rituals worked because all the
flights I’d been on had delivered me safely to my desti-
nation.
Did these rituals cause me to behave oddly at times?
On one flight, my plane was cruising along at thirty-
three thousand feet or so and I was, as usual, vigilantly
scanning the horizon for threatening aircraft. Then the
unthinkable happened: I spotted an aircraft far off on
the horizon ascending in the general direction of my air-
plane. By my expert calculation, we had about five min-
utes before the paths of the two planes crossed and my
life would come to an abrupt, fiery end. So I did what
any very anxious, increasingly irrational, human being
would do: I rang for the flight attendant. There was no
time to spare.
“Do you see that airplane down there?” I sputtered,
pointing toward the speck many miles off in the dis-
tance. She peered out the window. “Do you think the
captain knows it’s there?” I demanded.
The flight attendant tried to hide her amusement (or
amazement, I wasn’t sure which) and said, “I’ll be sure to
let him know.”
I was greatly relieved, albeit certain that my heroism
was not fully appreciated by either the flight attendant
or the passengers seated near me (who were now scan-