Perspective

I found this today lurking on the company servers:

Fight or Flight?

1. A gentleman traveling on a coast-to-cost flight
Was the kind of person who had real insight.
A five-year old youngster was really a fright
Running up and down aisles and giving a fight.

2. The people in business were trying to work
Near those who were sleeping, the youngster did lurk.
He yanked off the headsets of some music lovers,
And took all of the peanuts that he could discover.

3. The passengers complained, “He must be controlled,”
And threatened the flight crew to knock him out cold.
The flight attendant buckled him in his seat
But his screams and his hollers were less than a treat.

4. The passengers, desperate, want him bound tight and gagged.
“Arrest the boy’s parents, or let them be nagged.”
At last comes our gentleman, who spoke to the crew.
They loved his idea; into action they flew.

5. They found a seat for the boy in the front of the plane.
They were willing to do it to keep themselves sane.
They fashioned a steering wheel from a large plate;
A stick was a rudder’ he thought it was great.

6. Flying instruments were made from some odds and some ends.
The pilot came back; the two became friends,
The pilot then asked for help flying the plane.
Because it’d be tough if they ran into rain.

7. The kid was delighted’ he was taught how to fly.
Flight attendants all smiled; the copilot came by.
The pilot saluted and left the boy in command.
He kept pretty quiet and thought it was grand.

8. The passengers rejoiced; the gentleman was praised.
How did you think of it?” the question was raised.
The gentleman answered in a voice calm and low,
“It’s really quite simple, if you go with the flow.

You tried hard to solve your own problem, the noise;
But the problem I solved was that of the boy’s.”

© Janice Y. Preston, 1993. All rights reserved. Used with Permission