Upgrade to First Class?” asked the Delta site.
Why not? We can afford it. Treat yourselves right.
Jessie should travel in style on her first flight.
It’s amazing the treatment a buck-fifty gets tight.
By the time the dreaded trip to Louisville arrived,
we had fearfully and tearfully come to decide
that nonbinary Jason would take the lead
going and returning from the scratch supreme.
Discretion can become the better part of valor
when pushing the boundaries of what’s out there.
What’s accepted without thought or measure.
What’s so “other” that others pause to consider.
We won’t change the world in a day.
We definitely won’t change the TSA.
We can consistently, incrementally, move the chains
and hopefully inspire change in others along the way.
Back to First Class on our way to Kentucky
to challenge the status quo in “enemy” territory.
Friends in the Twin Cities worried for our safety.
The reception we received was soft and sweet.
We went into the trip expecting a fight,
finding only hugs and a desire to evolve.
Cooties from everywhere, many on the right,
played against type and showed their resolve.
To live up to the stated Cootie creed,
a veteran in need is a veteran in need.
A brother, a sister, a comrade, a creep.
They deserve our belief and our charity.
First Class is what we found, despite expectations,
and it showed the true character of our great nation.
Assumptions are poison and should be dismissed
as the irrelevant noise of self-defeating masochists.
Positive intent should be the default frame
until actions and words offer actual blame.
So glad we went and discovered this truth
to bring into the light as a way to subdue.
Our passions, our perspectives, are quite often unreal,
absent firsthand knowledge of how others might feel.
Give the benefit of the doubt as your opening move.
You might surprised at what First Class strangers might do.
