All Aboard For the Adventure of Your Lives
Summing up 2020 with a story
Donny was a pilot who wanted to launch a new era in air travel, so he leased the sleekest, most luxurious passenger jet he could find. To get his new business off the ground, he advertised an adventure flight of a lifetime in two separate marketing campaigns.
Donny offered cut-rate prices to board this flight on media that targeted average folks. He promised them the trip of their dreams and exclusive vacations. They bought up his flight tickets at an incredible pace. Donny sold over a hundred times more tickets than he had room for on the flight. The flight was scheduled to depart on the 21st of the month.
Donny also sold premium seats to a select few who could afford to take a better than first-class flight on his new airline. Promising the most extravagant opulence anyone had ever seen, he sold out his flight very quickly to the highest bidders. Their dream flight was scheduled to depart on the 20th of the month.
Donny banked all the proceeds from both sales campaigns, and never bothered to pay for the lease of the jet.
On the 20th, he greeted his elite passengers at the foot of the airplane steps. Business moguls and heirs to massive fortunes boarded the plane, and Donny took his seat behind the controls in the cockpit.
As the flight reached altitude, the passengers were served caviar and expensive champagne by two of the most beautiful flight attendants anyone had ever seen.
The jet soared high above a vast forest and crossed national boundaries on its way to an unknown exotic locale. Now it was time for Donny to put the rest of his plan into action. He put the plane’s controls in auto-pilot and exited the cockpit carrying an empty burlap sack in one hand, and a hand grenade in the other.
Standing at the head of the aisle, Donny made his announcement to the passengers. “Ladies and gentlemen, I’m going to pass this sack down the aisle and I want everyone to place their valuables into the bag. One false move and I will blow up this plane.” Donny made a show of the fact he had placed a parachute at the hatch door.
Shocked, frightened, and disgusted, the passengers all did as Donny had asked. They loaded the sack with expensive jewelry and cash.
As the filled bag was being passed back to the head of the aisle, some turbulence started to shake the airplane. Donny needed to act quickly. He opened the plane’s front hatch, strapped the parachute onto his back, and threw the sack of valuables out of the plane.
Donny then turned his passengers one last time and grinned at them eerily. “Now”, he said. “I can’t have any of you following me.”
With that, he pulled the pin on the grenade. The passengers gasped. The plane shook again.
Then, as Donny was leaping out of the plane, he tossed the pin back into the cabin. Donny laughed greedily as he fell away with the grenade still in his hand.
Three significant things happened that day;
- Donny blew himself out of the sky.
- There was no one left on board to pilot the plane.
- The next day’s passengers never got off the ground, and never got their money back.
It’s been a hell of a year for America.
Where do we go from here?
As always, thanks for taking the time, and thanks for the support from Dr. Mehmet Yildiz Tree Langdon Liam Ireland Britni Pepper Agnes Laurens Terry Mansfield Terry Trueman
