Perfectly Normal

I’m 32,000 feet above the Earth’s surface. I’d be dead if I wasn’t sealed inside this pressurized metal tube. I’m up here with 116 other people, and we are safe as long as we maintain enough speed, or avoid bumping into any of the other metal tubes streaking through the stratosphere. There are about 40,000 flights every day. Currently, we are hurtling through the clouds at 500 miles per hour. It’s not easy. We have to burn tons of fuel, which spews out of the engines in giant clouds of toxic gas, but as I said before, we are safely sealed inside. Outside the plane is a different story. The fuel is poisoning the air which contributes to rising rates of cancer, emphysema, asthma, and a variety of either fatal or debilitating illnesses, but as a society, we feel as though it’s worth it. The carbon in the exhaust is also contributing to climate change, which will eventually overheat the entire planet and destroy almost all life on its surface, but for now, the tube we are in is well air-conditioned. <a href="https://medium.com/counterarts/perfectly-normal-a430ec81aa55">Website</a>