January 5, 2025

Suitcase

A woman’s suitcase failed in front of my eyes on the plane this morning. Pushed beyond its limit, its hard plastic buckled, refusing to conform to the tiny luggage compartment over her head. Desperately, she put it on the floor, right next to the tiny lavatory, to remove excess. But the zipper broke, leaving her clothes exposed to the compressed masses. Nothing fit. Not the people, not the luggage, not her underwear. None of them. None could be contained by the flimsy, overwrought containment of their material economies.

We all averted our eyes to the best of our ability, even the flight attendant. Any attempt to help further ripped the zipper and better exposed her private business. So we averted our eyes, knowing any of us could have been her, trusting the fruits of economic innovation to protect our shrinking, squished lives.