Split Sides

Airports

I love airports. They bring forth the most prominent forms of human emotion through a bustling space of concrete, glass, and steel. It's a place where an entire range of emotions like wonder, joy, trepidation, sadness, regret, and hope, can be shown and felt. The most personal and transparent of human expression, under a location so expansive it can stretch into entire cities and even islands. The scale alone would be impossible to grasp in the average brain.

Just think about it. The simple feelings that people can muster in any given time and context, all of them deeply meaningful to them, can only be consistently aroused in an airport. Just as there hasn't been a family in the land that hadn't had to say goodbye to someone, there can hardly be anyone who hadn't felt any elation or anticipation while being there. And why not? Airports are the gateway to the world, where all kinds of people from every corner of the world converge on one single place. It's the place where anyone, no matter their status, identity, race, belief, or political persuasion, can partake in the universal freedom of movement. And it's the place where an ordinary person can witness their dreams and goals literally take flight, especially if it's their very first time flying to another place or country. That's the kind of unity and achievement and magic only airports can inspire and incite in the human spirit.

In addition, airports represent the starting impressions of a country to visitors and tourists, especially when it's their first time. It's the foremost place that makes or breaks a city or a country in the visitor's mind. How they perceive an airport's beauty and efficiency will decide if they'll come back or not. That's what makes them vital in a country's development, and that's why airports are more than a place where people come and go. Airports represent the pinnacle of a country's growth and its standing in the world order. Airports can literally determine if a nation succeeds or not, and that's why I love airports.