The miracle of flight

Even in an age that has come to regard journeys to the moon and robot exploration of of the planets as commonplace, flight continues to inspire the same sense of awe and power that it did when th eairplane was new. Aviation, that most hard-edged of technologies, has somehow retained a component of the magic that was so apparent to the first witnesses who saw [Wilbur Wright] fly at Les Hunaundières.

The psychological impact was stunning. If man could fly, was any goal beyond his reach?

The Bishop's Boys by Tom D. Crouch, p. 369.

What struck me about this passage is that the wonder of flight is still very much alive in my four year old son. Whether we're launching water rockets of folding paper airplane after paper airplane, he is fascinated by anything that flies. And as a result, so am I. I'm absolutely fascinated by flight again (as evidenced by the fact that I'm reading a book about the Wright Brothers).

This passage also brought to mind Louis C.K.'s brilliant bit on how everything's amazing and nobody's happy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEY58fiSK8E

Did you fly through the air incredibly, like a bird? Did you partake in the miracle of human flight, you non-contributing zero? You're flying! It's amazing. Everybody on every plane should be going "Oh my God! Wow!" You're flying! You're sitting in a chair in the sky!