It's Memorial Day today and I'd rather be at work. If this doesn't sound like me, I can assure you it is, and this normally doesn't happen when I'm off the job. I like my days off and vacations as much as the next guy. But today is different and it began with the message from the captain.
Normally I hear the greetings from a captain while sitting in the right seat of my airplane. They talk about the weather, the arrival time, all the usual stuff you hear sitting on an airplane. But today I'm on a 964 foot boat in the Pacific Ocean. And today that message from the captain is heard through the vessel's public address system.
I'm writing this from an internet cafe on the fifth deck of this beautiful cruise ship. It's a 5 day voyage up the coast of California that began in San Diego, yesterday. Beautiful weather, a fine crew, and excellent service. We are having a great time.
At precisely 10 AM this morning, Captain Zisis Tarames provided us with greetings and excellent information regarding our voyage. He updated us on the exact latitude and longitude, outside air and sea temperature, and weather forecast for our first port of call tomorrow. Everything you would expect from the captain's daily informational address, and I was very impressed with his precise tone and tenor transmitted through the ship's speakers. I feel good knowing that my family and this ship are in very capable hands.
One thing I missed though: no mention at all of Memorial Day.
I know this is a foreign registered vessel. The captain and many of the crew and passengers are not American citizens and there is certainly no obvious reason to expect mention of a US Holiday. But this morning at breakfast I spoke to a passenger with a World War II Veteran cap. He was in a wheelchair, and as we talked, I did the math. Every vet from that conflict is over the age of 80 and we are quickly reaching a time when the living reminders of that important point in our history will be nearly gone.
After speaking to the man, I wanted nothing more than the ability to hack into that ship's public address system, and say thank you to every veteran on board. Doesn't matter their nationality, because there are still many out there from other countries who have also sacrificed.
So today I will enjoy myself aboard a beautiful cruise ship. I will stand outside on a bright blue day, a steady strong breeze from the southwest across the deck, and I'll look above for the flags. Flags that distinguish this cruise ship as a peaceful vessel of commerce, transporting free citizens to wonderful destinations across the sea.
But I can also picture flags that are not there: rising suns and swastikas that once filled our national nightmares and fluttered above steel and barbaric ideas. Flags that could be there on this morning, but are not because of men and women who demonstrated courage and sacrifice in a manner that the average citizen can today hardly imagine.
That's why I wouldn't mind being in an airplane right now, nearly ready to pushback, microphone in hand addressing my customers. I'm very proud knowing that on over three thousand flights today that my airline will operate, the crew will begin each journey with a thank you to some very very special people on board.
