Assignment 3

Throughout Sedaris' Essay "Standing By," I felt a little bit upset and angered about the fact that the passengers flights kept changing. The idea that kept going through my mind is , "Do the flight attendants actually know when we are going to leave?", "Are they going to fix the problem?", and "How much longer will we have to endure this wait?" I slowly grew more impatient as the time passed by and as we continued to wait because I know what it is like to be continuously told that my flight will be departing at a later time and how it ruins the plans that I have for my trip. Sedaris did feel as though the flight attendants were just throwing out times to make him and others calm down and feel better about the fact that their flight would be leaving soon but it grew to a certain extent where he caught on to them and told them. "They told us we would leave at three instead of two-thirty and now they changed the time to four (275)." Sedaris, just as well as the fellow passengers, understood  the hassles of air travel and grew more fed up and impatient with the idea that nobody was ever going to be willing to help resolve this issue. I think that Sedaris felt as though the ticket agents and flight employees could care less about the needs and well-being of the passengers and cared more about their paychecks at the end of the day. I think this way because throughout the essay it was as if the employees at customer service, the ticket agents, and even the flight attendants would just excuse the passengers when attitudes started to arise as the passenger's impatience grew more and more as they waited.

As Sedaris would be waiting for his flights, there were people who had caught his attention. He may not have been looking for it purposefully but that is what happens when you are just sitting around as you wait and boredom begins to creep over. As his mind wandered what caught his attention was an older couple with a couple of teenagers more specifically the teenage father with a shirt reading "Freaky Mothafucka (Sedaris 276)." Was he trying to make a statement? Does he want people to think that he could care less about his son and more about partying, sex, and etc? That is something that most mature fathers in public especially with their parents just would not where out of respect. Sedaris describes the young boy's appearance as immature, disrespectful, and not ready to be a father. "This boy wore pants sagging below his wait, a revealing shirt, and he wore cornrows with blue beading like Stevie Wonder (276)." "The only ones having babies are the ones who shouldn't be having babies (276)." Sedaris raises the idea that if one wants to be respected and should be portrayed in the right light, it is important that the individual appears as such. It is mind bending how individuals, especially young people, are more ready to engage in such activities to make a baby but they are not ready to handle the responsibility to take care of the baby.

Sedaris at some point asks the question, "Who did you vote for in the last election? (276)" I thought this was kind of strange and random to ask this sort of question of a total stranger. The feeling that may come out of this might be "Why is this person questioning my political beliefs?" and "Would it matter to him what my beliefs are because I will not change that because of what he is telling me." Some people do get offended that someone is questioning them on such an issue that can become controversial as Hitler had been. Adolf Hitler was a very bad leader throughout history who wanted to destroy and get rid of the Jewish race in the hopes that one day he would develop a society of the pure Aryan race. He had extreme hate of the Jews and would do anything to get rid of them. "Isn't it amazing how quickly one man can completely screw up a country? (Sedaris 277)" Talking to the man with the mustache next to him helped him realize how today's government is destroying the economy and this is with Barack Obama as the leader of the country. Jobs were essentially lost with the closing of G.M. and many others companies. "They were doing fine, but now the federal government's telling them they have to close. Like this is Russia or something, a Communist country! (Sedaris 276)" Hitler had extreme hate for the Jews getting rid of them and in a similar way jobs are being cut hurting the middle-class and under. This brings backs such depressing, hurtful, and discriminatory feelings similar to those felt by the victims of Hitler's rage.

Sedaris, David. "Standing By." First Year Composition Reader. Boston: Pearsin, 2011. 275-277. Print

Questions

When Sedaris mentions the name Adolf Hitler, did it seem to bring about a more serious tone towards the end of the text?

While Sedaris is waiting in the airport, his mind begins to wander and , in his case, he starts to become very judgemental of others. Do you ever find yourself judging others consciously or without even knowing?