Just plain stupidity

Maria Arpa

Wednesday Whisper

16 December 2020

This week

Just plain stupidity

Plus…

Maria’s Midweek Mindfulness

and

The Wednesday Whisper

Toddler Trouble

Sometimes it is just important to call out stupidity. In this case it is airlines removing boarded families and subsequently banning families from flying because a 2 year old will not keep a mask on.

Now, let me explain. If you want to run your airline with a cast iron rule that 2 year olds have to wear a mask at all times, then do not sell airline tickets to families with 2 year olds because it just cannot be guaranteed on the day. Simple.

If you sell a ticket to a 2 year old (remember 2 years and up pay fares), then please expect that there might be a toddler tantrum or a Mum might struggle to get a two year old to keep the mask on. This is just how it is. We cannot punish small children for not understanding and at two, THEY DON’T UNDERSTAND.

Over the last two months, at least five mothers have struggled to get their toddlers to keep their masks on after boarding their plane, and were subsequently removed from their flight.

We are not talking about anti-maskers or any other ‘rebel’. We are talking about mothers wanting to be compliant and doing everything possible short of using duct tape or tying their hands and then being removed from the flight.

Surely a child should only be required to wear a mask when they are old enough and competent enough to easily, and without any kind of struggle, take it off by themselves in an emergency. I don’t know many two year olds able to do that.

Maria’s Midweek Mindfulness

The importance of this blog is how we become inhuman when people are expected to serve rules. Rules are made to serve life not the other way round. And I wonder how many crew members hate this policy and have no power to tell their employers, if they want to keep their job?

The Wednesday Whisper

When have you been forced to serve the rules when the rules were stupid?

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4 Comments

Cindy Foss
Posted 4 years ago Reply

Your comment above resonates for me, Maria. When we gather in our circles/communities, together we make agreements to live by for safety and respect.. When someone doesn’t adhere to shared agreements, we work together to understand, recommit or change the agreement to be more inclusive. We’ve never kicked someone out of our circles – the idea is “how do we want to live together.” Expecting a two year old to wear a mask for an entire flight is a recipe for failure. As adults, we can take some personal responsibility and make ourselves safe during a flight with a two year old on board. If the airlines are taking the money from a family for a 2 yr old to fly, then they have some obligation to help that family have a successful trip because it is success for everyone. One the family’s child was autistic in US and they removed the mother and child – we don’t their circumstance and why they needed to fly – where is the compassion?
- Maria Arpa
  Posted 4 years ago Reply
  
  Dear Cindy, I am really moved by how beautifully you have written to honour our humanity.
Tamzie Hollands
Posted 4 years ago Reply

I tend to be a rule break than a maker or taker – perhaps the wrong person to answer this question. I do try and comply with things that are sensible/justifiable but have always tended to rebel when rules are plain stupid – so I wouldn’t be good in this situation!!
- Maria Arpa
  Posted 4 years ago Reply
  
  Thanks Tamzie,
  That’s the point. When rules are plain stupid and not there to help humanity, it’s important to open the dialogue but on a plane with a 2 year old is not the time or place. The employees on a plane are messengers of the rules not the policy makers so this needs to be taken this into consideration – that the policy maker is expecting an employee to be the enforcer which is stupid. I remember my kids’ school insisting that boys had short hair when girls were allowed to have it long. This is a stupid rule based on a someone’s preference. When I attempted to open a dialogue about it, I was refused. Rules belong to the whole community and therefore need to be organized by consent. And rules are also living documents that require continuous review to ensure they are still in step with the majority expected to uphold the rule.