Often, we hear words of wisdom like “It is not the destination that matters, but the journey itself.”

Respectfully, that metaphor does not apply when you are squeezed into Cattle Class on a 12-hour red-eye flight back home. All you care about is when you will reach the destination with a mental countdown at the back of your head at the moment you get emancipated from the rest of the cattle, with food and inflight entertainment as a distraction from the squeeze you endure.

That has always been my experience when I am on a flight like this, at least until recently.

The journey from another continent inbound to Singapore started well enough. I was offered an upgrade to Premium Cattle Class, which despite its branding, is largely similar with regular Cattle Class. While the seat offers more legroom, the catch is that I will have to squeeze in between two other people, an arrangement I usually avoid when I travel. But for the extra legroom, I decided to endure it. Hopefully, I’ll get two smaller-sized travel mates as I am quite the plus size person myself.

My hopes were dashed as soon as I boarded.

On the left and right of myself were two gentlemen as large as I am. I quickly sunk into a 5-second depression.

Everything went well during the first leg of the flight. Inflight entertainment works and the service was impeccable. The gentlemen and I maintained respectful boundaries during the journey, and we were largely courteous to one another. Notwithstanding, I was curious who my immediate neighbours were on this flight. On the left of me was a nicely bald gentlemen with a certain arcane glow about him and he reminded me of someone who would work in some form of military forces. Let’s call him Mr X. On my right was an older gentleman with a book in his hands. I have always liked speaking to readers because I find they have so much to offer when you have a conversation with them. I will call this gentleman Mr T, with no connotation.

Lesson #1: Customers Move On When They Cannot Get What They Want from You

My conversation with Mr. X was pleasant. I learnt that he worked for a multinational company that produces adhesives, and he just took on a global role. He shared his experience working with people across different cultures and how he coped with demanding customers in a competitive environment, which I valued a lot. One point of view stood out and he mentioned that China is no longer the same post Covid. It cannot be treated as an indispensable part of the supply chain. As such, these companies implement a “China plus One” strategy, even if it is costlier. However, predictability is a premium companies will pay for. This consequence was probably the result from China’s continued shutdowns and quarantine when the world was gravitating towards a new normal.

Lesson #2: Good Intentions May Not Necessarily Be Well-received

Just to be clear, this is not a critique of the Chinese government’s pandemic policies. What they tried to do was noble in their attempt to save lives. My take from this was no matter how well intended your decisions are, there could be unintended consequence from those decisions, where repercussions can be hard hitting. This is especially true when you deal with decisions that are close to the heart. 

Lesson #3: We All Need to Adapt to Survive

Moving on to Mr. T, whom my conversation with was comfortable and it felt like I was talking to an old friend. Mr. T was a farmer with a couple of hundred cows, giving us a steady supply of milk. Did you know that a dairy cow can produce about 26 litres of milk a day? I learnt that from Mr T.

The conversation became much more profound for me, when he asked me if I have any children.  My long-standing personal view is that it makes little sense bringing another life into this world looking at the way the world is heading. One of my core beliefs is that we are not going to beat climate change. There is too much vested interest involved, many of which are national and industrial. This could set off a chain of events, including higher prices and conflicts. Why then put another person in this messed up world. Especially your own blood. But these are just my own thoughts, and I won’t try to impose my perspective onto anyone else.

“Well then, they will have to adapt. As farmers, we adapt all time. That is how we survive.”

This was the reply from Mr. T when I shared my view of not having children. At that very moment, it felt like there was so much credibility in that statement and I knew he was right.

I learnt despite bombardment of pessimism around us all the time, the only way to uplift of all these negativities is the human spirit and the willingness to adapt to life’s uncontrollable and changing circumstances. We should never let our negativities affect our outlook in life because the fact is that we are made to cope with our environment.

Lesson #4: Hardship is Acceptable if the Reward is Worth 

All in this was a good flight and the metaphor holds true when you have good companions during your journey.  If I am blessed to have such good travel companions whenever I take a flight, I would not mind taking the seat at the centre all the time.

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