A poor old lady decided to travel in business class so she could be closer to her son, but she was treated with contempt by other passengers until her real identity was disclosed.
Rhea had a sense of self. The old woman had left the airport on the first aircraft of the day and sat in the business class section, which is usually reserved for the wealthy.
She was invisible when she first arrived in the cabin, but as soon as she took a seat, others started to notice her. She seemed very much out of place.
Rhea dressed her best, most worn-out clothing, which looked cheap in contrast to the other passengers’ elegant and expensive outfits.
She was originally invisible to the man next to her since he was preoccupied with his newspaper. At last, he looked up and noticed her. He gave her an ugly look and waved hurriedly to a flight attendant.
“What is this?” he said, pointing to Rhea.
After verifying Rhea’s seat assignment and expressing her discomfort with the man’s tone, the flight attendant said, “This passenger is seated as per her ticket purchase.”
Rhea’s presence seemed to be nauseating the man. He covered his nose with a handkerchief before saying, “I don’t know what’s on her ticket, but I paid for business class to avoid people like her; now it feels like I’m sitting in a rundown alley with homeless people,” before he could say anything more.
A few of the passengers responded to this remark, with others feeling the same way. “If I wanted to travel with such riff-raff, I would have bought an economy ticket,” a gorgeously decorated woman said, drawing nods of agreement.
The wealthy passengers insisted on having Rhea removed, and their dissatisfaction turned into a fight that the attendant found difficult to moderate.
“Is it not evident that she is not a fit here?” A one individual objected.
Has this airline really gone to such lengths? Another person said, “How could she possibly afford this?”
The man next to Rhea said, “We demand her removal and an official apology for exposing us to such filth.”
He and a few other people stood and refused to sit down until their demands were fulfilled. Rhea endured the cruel remarks that violated her dignity while sitting in silence.
“This too shall pass; I’m okay,” she said to herself.
She tried to remain calm, but tears started to well up in her eyes.
With shaky hands, Rhea gathered her stuff and thought, “I might just leave.”
She staggered as she stood. The man next to her backed away as if he didn’t want to get contaminated. When Rhea collapsed, the contents of her handbag spilled.
An nicely dressed older woman who had been distracted by the ruckus assisted her as she gathered her belongings.
This woman was very friendly to Rhea, and the cabin went silent. She picked up a little boy’s passport picture from among the dropped objects.
Rhea said, “Thank you,” as she snapped the picture.
“This is my son,” the woman sobbed. “He is this plane’s pilot.”
The kind woman said, “He must be a fine man now.”
“How could I be certain? Rhea said, “I had to give him up at five because I couldn’t support him,” as tears streamed down her cheeks. “I’ve spent years looking for him. I started going to airports to look for him after hearing that he become a pilot. I finally did it today and got on this trip to be close to him.
Rhea glanced around, with most of the passengers now averting her eyes.
“I didn’t intend to aggravate anyone. Being close to my kid, I thought this would be a nice birthday gift to me, so I saved to purchase it,” she explained.
Her tale made many people cry. Then Rhea went to greet her son with the attendants.
She was concerned, “What if he resents me?”
“You were left with no options. The once judgmental guy comforted her, “He’ll understand,” then withdrew behind his newspaper out of embarrassment.
A little while later, someone said, “This is your captain,” over the intercom. My mother is here today, celebrating her birthday, and she is a remarkable person.
The cabin erupted in cheers, and those who had disregarded Rhea expressed regret. After years apart, the pilot, Joseph, was reunited with his mother upon the plane’s landing.
Takeaways from the narrative:
Select compassion. Only one lady stood with Rhea when others cried out for her to be removed, which changed the course of events.
Never give up. Rhea searched for her son for years without luck, but in the end, her perseverance paid off with a heartwarming reunion.