for
4/28/2001
Walking becomes riding. Europe has horses. The Americas have typars. Typars don't domesticate. Europe takes over the Americas.
Swimming becomes boats. Rowboats become sailboats. Again, the Americas stick to row boats. Again, they were conquered.
But this essay isn't about Europe's expansion into the New World. It's about travel.
Faster, shorter, sooner. Sails become steamships. Steamships become coal liners. Liners become airplanes. Stop. End of 20th century.
There's no use looking for the advantage of faster travel. Faster, shorter, sooner. The great world shrinks. A summer's trip becomes a weekend's. People can move farther afield, and stay together.
There's only one thing missing. Comfort. It used to be you took the train from Brittany to Amsterdam, and had a private car, food served, a place to sleep. That was a short distance. Maybe it's still that way in Europe, or even on Amtrak, but the trains don't run where they used to. The nice trains are for travelling between states, and they charge for it. The little trains--commuter rails, they're usually called--that spider out into the suburbs, are not built for comfort. And the commuter rails of the roads, busses, are a far cry from the deliberate comfort of yore.
Much has been made of the machinifying of humanity, and most of its arguments were heeded and stamped out by the end of the Age of Industry. Today, in the Information Age, we're better off than our ancestors, but we must be wary. Not in big ways--there's no global conspiracy to put us under the yolk, no branch of government plotting to do so. It's the small ways that require vigilance--and frequently, it's our own actions.
Because travelling for cheap is not comfortable. Being packed into a small space for the sake of economy is not pleasant. Enduring several hours of confined motion is hard on a body. Be aware of that.
Take a moment, always, to regain your humanity.
At the end of the last century, when you took that train from Britanny to Amsterdam, there was a strict code of conduct to follow. One called his fellow people "Sir" or "Miss" or "Madam." They said "excuse me" and "thank you." Modesty dictated that one check one's emotions.
And if this previous mess of pronouns can be useful in some way, I beg you: take from it the fact that the action of travel is unpleasant for everyone. There's no need to make it more unpleasant yourself.
No one's an "asshole." He's just busy.
And so I beg again: regain your humanity from travel. Smile. Take no offense. Chat. Have a nice meal afterward. Spread civilization.
Because the only real necessity of the situation is the travel itself.
Touch the Toast