The higher the fly, the harder the fall!

Flight (2012)
Director: Robert Zemeckis

There was a time when professional jobs were allocated to the crème de la crème of society. It was thought that since the educational design was so gruelling, only the disciplined, regulation sticklers and the honest would pass out the system with flying colours. Such linear thinking fellows would be honest and not cut corners.

In most societies, however, such thinking holds no water. In keeping with the tagline of a particular budget airline, 'Now everyone can fly!', such a message also goes to pilots worldwide. Anyone can fly a plane. This type of thinking has also permeated into society on a larger scale. Every member of a particular profession is a cogwheel in a piece of bigger machinery. Everybody has to play his part; no more, no less. Nobody is indispensable. Anyone can be displaced and replaced. There are waiting to take over.

This movie reminds all professionals that vigilance is an eternal necessity. Our jobs are constantly being scrutinised for shortfalls. Anytime anything goes against the grain of normality, the vultures of the world will peel open their eyelids to find a scoop that they can create a whirlwind of mischief. In the modern way of doing things, everything is outsourced. Outsourcing is filled with responsibilities and liabilities. Hence, everybody will want to avert their burden of duty and find a scapegoat. No more are professionals absolved of any of these. No stone is left unturned. So it is of paramount importance to guard your own background. Lest your slightest lapse of concentration will be amplified to paint as the main reason for any malady that may arise.

In this 2012 film, a pilot with many years of experience but a drinking and drug habit saves an obviously old plane that outlived its usefulness from a sure crash with his unique flying manoeuvres. His moves were indeed proved impossible to be reproduced on simulation flights, and he is hailed as a hero. He saved many lives from sure death. Post-crash investigations were not kind, however. His addiction comes to the open, and the pilot is vilified by the authorities. Even though the maintenance standards of the machine are far from satisfactory, somehow, the pilot's deficiencies hit the headlines. The pilot's death-defying heroic act, despite his sobriety, takes a backseat. 

The higher you fly, the harder the fall!

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Follow

 

Defensive mode

We are all living in a world where everybody is just waiting for another to make a mistake whilst at the same time everybody is just so careful that their posterior is not exposed and hence vulnerable to abuses.

Whenever a misadventure is encountered, the first response is mum! Nobody talks to anybody as anything you say will be used against you in any situation just to fry your goose. Silence is golden whilst the conniving officers of the law scheme out devious plans to dissociate yourself any plausible repercussions. Truth, justice, liberty you say? What is that? When you are persecuted and crucified for an event that even be beyond your control and your rice bowl is jeopardised, to hell with doing the right thing. It is the right thing alright, for yourself and your dependants. By admitting mistakes, everything would be pinned on you conveniently. In this world of fault seeking and destiny defying population, no one will empathise with you or have sympathy for your predicament. The time for Truth (a.k.a. God) to set things straight is long gone. We killed God long ago with our advancement in technology. There was a time when we were quite green about things around us. We had once marvelled at the splendour of many breathtaking events in our lives - how the sun was eaten by darkness; how the wrath the Mother Nature belched out boiling molten rocks whenever we thought we had wronged and how God punished the fornicators by inflicting incurable diseases!
When Man found a plausible manner to explain all these God sent events, he stopped blaming God for everything. He instead held each other responsible for misadventure, negligence or gaffe, depending on which side of the fence you are! And the sharks have no intentions to bring peace on Earth as it would affect their rice bowl and drinking chalice too - a tool of their trade.