The Rerouted Skytress

If you are a regular reader of my blog, you know I pray a lot while I’m on the airplane. Yessiree. I pray before we take off. I pray before we land. I’m constantly praying for our passengers. I ask God to keep them safe as they travel to their final destinations. I’ll admit. There are flights I pray to God to convince some of our passengers to choose another airline to fly. I, also, pray I have a good crew. Graciously, God answers this prayer 99% of the time. Every trip I pray I make my flight home. Thankfully, God answers this prayer 99% of the time, too. The past few weeks, however, I have spent most of my flying prayer time, praying for the people of Ukraine. Actually, I spend most of my day praying for the people of Ukraine. These prayers are followed by prayers for all the beautiful people around the world helping the Ukrainians. For days now, the song, “Let There Be Peace on Earth” has been replaying on a constant loop in my head. Peace. Yes, Peace. Oh, how I pray for peace for the Ukrainians. “The Peace that was meant to be”.

I watched the closing ceremonies of the Olympics with a unsettling feeling. I couldn’t forget the image of the Ukraine skeleton athlete, Vladyslav Heraskevych, holding a sign with his country’s colors that said, “No War in Ukraine”. It was heart wrenching. I wanted to cry as International Olympic Committee President, Thomas Bach, spoke, “ This unifying power of the Olympic Games is stronger than the forces that want to divide us: you give peace a chance. May the political leaders around the world be inspired by your example of solidarity and peace.” Sadly, I knew Vladimir Putin wasn’t listening. Yet, I prayed, “Let There Be Peace on Earth”.

As Ash Wednesday approached, Pope Francis called on Catholics around the world to pray The Hail Mary to the Blessed Mother for peace. I am Catholic. We refer to the Blessed Virgin Mary as the “Queen of Peace”. I took Pope Francis’ words to heart. As the song goes,….I knew peace had to begin with me. More specifically, I knew peace had to begin with me praying The Hail Mary. I’ll admit. The Hail Mary isn’t an easy prayer for me. It should be. It’s a short prayer. But, by golly, for a short prayer, I can really mess it up. I used to keep a copy of the prayer in my flight bag because it frustrated me so much. Yessiree. I had too many occasions when the prayer would pop into my head while I sat on my Skytress jumpseat. I’ll admit. I would get stuck praying The Hail Mary after the first three lines. Oh, I could easily remember the ending of the prayer. It was the middle that was fuzzy. The more I tried to get the prayer right, the more flustered I’d get. So one day I looked up the prayer and wrote it on a piece of paper. I put the paper inside my flight calendar with other prayer cards I had stashed inside. Yessiree. I’m a good Irish Catholic Skytress…..Who happens to have difficulty remembering The Hail Mary. This past Ash Wednesday I was flying. When I got to the airport I Googled The Hail Mary. I took a screenshot of the prayer. I prayed it repeatedly. I’ll admit. I repeatedly prayed it mostly to memorize the prayer. I knew I wasn’t really praying with intention. Later that day I took another screenshot of the prayer on my company Skytress phone. When I, The Rerouted Skytress, got rerouted, I repeatedly prayed The Hail Mary on my two deadhead flights. However, this time when I prayed, I prayed with intention as I thought about the people of Ukraine. Yes. I prayed to the “Queen of Peace” for peace in Ukraine. All the while hearing the song lines, “With God as our Father, brothers all are we. Let me walk with my brother, in perfect harmony”.

My crew and I got to our hotel in Fort Myers just before midnight. I didn’t want to disturb the hotel guests in the adjoining hotel rooms. Thus, I didn’t turn on my television to catch up on the war news. Instead, I decided I’d do a quick check of my Facebook and Instagram accounts before I headed to bed. I scrolled by multiple images and stories of support for the people of Ukraine. I cried tears of sadness, love and anger. War is awful, awful, awful. I was exhausted from a long day of being a Skytress. I knew I needed to go to sleep. I told myself to put my phone down. But, then I saw a picture of Maksim Chmerkovskiy from “Dancing With The Stars” and something told me to click on his Instagram story. I did…..I was riveted for the next few hours.

Maksim Chmerkovskiy was reporting from Poland. He had just escaped Ukraine by train. He felt guilty because he was leaving his homeland. He, also, felt guilty because he is a big man. He was completely aware of the fact he had taken up valuable space on the train. Space that could have been used for another woman and child to evacuate Ukraine. He revealed how he stood between train cars for 17 hours so he wouldn’t take up valuable space inside. Yes. It took him 17 hours to reach Poland by train. His story was compelling. He explained numerous things about Ukraine and it’s people. He spoke about the horrors of war. He said he couldn’t go into details. He was trying to keep himself focused. He admitted he would need extensive therapy to deal with the atrocities he had witnessed. I couldn’t fathom what he had experienced. I couldn’t fathom what the people of Ukraine were experiencing. I just knew my heart broke for them. I watched Maksim’s other posts. They were captivating. I decided to follow Maksim on Instagram. I yearned to understand more about the insurrection and how it was affecting the people of Ukraine. Maksim promised he would show the reality of war that regular television couldn’t show. I went to bed anticipating a new post from Maksim when I woke up. I’ll admit, though. I was ill-prepared for what I saw the next day.

Early the next morning I decided to go sit outside on my hotel balcony. I relished the warm temperature. I was mesmerized by the sun glistening on the water. It was utterly peaceful watching the boats cruising just beyond the harbor. I almost forgot I was at work. I took my cell phone and iPad outside. I thought writing in such a beautiful setting would be a treat. Before I opened my iPad to write, I decided to check my Instagram. I clicked on Maksim’s post. I was stunned. I was watching videos of war unlike anything I had ever seen. Maksim was sharing videos from his friends in Ukraine. I couldn’t understand what was being said. Sadly, war doesn’t need a language. Maksim said he is not a soldier. He promised instead to use his cell phone as a weapon against the Russians. His weapon on choice was irrefutable. His Instagram posts pierced my heart. I cried. I was blatantly aware of how privileged I was at that moment. I was safe at a beautiful hotel watching boats on the water. Meanwhile the people of Ukraine were trying to stay alive. Oh how, I prayed for the people of Ukraine. Oh how I prayed for peace.

Unbelievably, we are now several weeks into the war. In this time, I’ve watched and read more about the ugliness of war than I care to know. Conversely, I’ve watched and read amazing stories of people from around the world coming together to support the people of Ukraine. The outpouring of humanitarian aide has left me speechless. I chose several organizations to assist financially. Oh, how I wish I could help every single person and organization I’ve learned about these past few weeks. Every gesture is a vow of support for the Ukrainians and their fight for freedom and peace. I’m proud to see sun flowers and the yellow and blue colors of Ukraine displayed in solidarity everywhere I look. My heart has swelled as I see cities around the world light up their buildings in yellow and blue. It’s a simple, yet impactful gesture. When I flew home to St. Louis our airport was lit up in yellow and blue. I’m not sure how many passengers saw the lights. But, I did.

War is ugly. I pray this war is over soon. I pray the people of Ukraine will be able to go back to their homes and rebuild what Vladimir Putin has so selfishly destroyed. Sadly, too many families have been destroyed and will never be made whole again. My heart aches for them. Yes. For weeks I’ve had the song, “ Let There Be Peace on Earth” playing on a constant loop in my head…. as if I am trying to will it to happen. I’m reminded as I write this, during Catholic Mass, we offer the sign of peace to each other. We turn to each other and say, “Peace be with you”. These simple words reflect how we wish each other to live in this world. People with peaceful hearts. People living with peaceful spirits. People living in a peaceful world. Peace. Not war. Yes. “Let there be peace on Earth, the peace that was meant to be”. May peace return to the people of Ukraine. The peace that used to be.