Sitting
on the tarmac in Reno, Nevada with a delayed flight. Heading down to LAX for a connecting flight back home to
Beijing. I didn’t have a very
favorable impression of Reno the first time I visited, some ten years ago. I recall and see once again, legions fat,
middle-aged, white Americans of limited means, hunched over slot machines, 斗鸡走吗[1].
This time I was put up in a resort away from the downtown
area, which could have been any other casino in Las Vegas, to my eyes. But the view out the sixteenth floor window
to the town and the desert and the mountains beyond was redeeming. And for someone who hates random video
up in my face, the screens they had everywhere showing nicely curated footage
of Austria, Australia and Capri were quite pleasant.
Sun setting now beautifully off to the right as we fly down
the California coast. I always opt
for aisle seats. I’ve got one just
now, but there are times when a window view would be preferable. I tried to do some meditation on the
flight but kept dozing off and learning over on to the poor lady next to me,
who, quite reasonably, asked me to lean to the other side. I’m flying American Airlines,
which I never do, but it was the only flight that let me get down at the time I
needed. The plane was held on the
tarmac for about thirty minuets and I took note of the little things that
American Airlines does differently.
On United you must pay for drinks with a credit card. On American, you must pay in cash. On American they comp their frequent
fliers with free drinks. No such
luck on United. The American
Airlines CEO does not promote himself at the outset of every flight like Jeff
Smisek. Who is the American
Airlines top dog?
This flight has no in-flight entertainment. Hurray! I would pay extra for this sort of feature absence; an
upgrade for a flight where all other video screens were turned off. But unfortunately the guy two seats up
on the right has his iPad up at his eye level so its unavoidable not to take in
his action-packed drivel. A
middle-aged man has just begun slapping around a blond woman on his
screen. Why do I have to watch
this violence? Now a guy who
is a dead-ringer for Richard Nixon is flapping his jowls, with feigned
seriousness. As always, I’d like
to resist the urge to let my eyes wander over to the man’s screen. It’s futile
My memories of Reno were largely reinforced for the 24 hours
I just spent there. The
“poor-man’s” Vegas looks much as I remember it. Las Vegas itself is a poor man’s magnet for gambling and
“entertainment.” This time, I had
to walk through the casino a number of times, to get to the place where my meetings
were being held. To be fair, there
were a few families, bringing kids over to the pool. These people were redeeming. But mostly it was my stereotype assortment of Americana who
really have better things to do with their money than drip feed it in to slot
machines, time after time. This
lot was in full flush at my hotel.
Just like Vegas without much of the eye candy.
Righting myself from nodding off and drooping leftward, I ended up
chatting with the woman next to me, on this flight. She was from Suffolk County, Long Island but had lived in
Arizona for years. She’d only just
moved to L.A. She told me she had to work for years to
loose her New York accent.
A single mom, she mentioned that her son, was interested in diplomacy. At this I brightened up
tremendously. I mentioned the
Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy where I did my graduate work. Her son, had lived in Italy and was
keen to consider this Foreign Service.
Something about this warmed my heart immediately. “Really? Well ,
look . . .” I told her, “if you
son is ever interested in going to China, please have him drop me a line.” This,
apropos of nothing, handing her my card. We need all the young Americans we can
get, who are interested in the world beyond the U.S.A. to engage. Tell him to consider Fletcher and tell
him to consider China. The
relationship is going to be tested sorely in the next few years and we’re going
to need every, single nuanced thinker like your son we can have to keep things
from veering off course.
Odd, instinctive, but unfiltered and heart-felt. And with that, we all landed in LAX,
which isn’t Reno and isn't much to look at.
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