When it comes to disembarking planes, we’re all guilty of elbowing / flattening / queue-jumping our fellow passengers in the rush to get the fuck off that thing.
It makes this story about an entire plane-full of people stopping to offer their condolences to a fellow passenger – the grandma of one of the 49 Orlando shooting victims, 20-year-old Luis Omar Ocasio-Capo – who was travelling to Florida to be with her family in the wake of the tragedy all the more heartwarming.
Flight attendant Kelly Davis Karas of domestic airline JetBlue – which is offering free flights to and from Orlando to immediate relatives and partners of those killed or injured – wrote that she and her coworkers had the “sad privilege” of attending to Omar’s distraught nanna and, “knowing she was making this hard journey alone, JetBlue employees made sure to be at her side every step of the way.”
That meant standing by her wheelchair as she waited to board the flight and settling her into her seat, bringing her a blanket, pillow, water and a box of tissues, and generally just trying to make her feel as comfortable as possible.
Early on in the flight, Karas had the idea to “pass around a piece of paper to everyone on board and invite them to sign it for this grieving grandmother.”
She started passing blank paper around from the back of the plane but, halfway through, realised they’d need a whole lot more because “folks are writing PARAGRAPHS.”
“Running out of time on our hour and fifteen minute flight, we handed out pieces of paper to everyone still waiting,” she wrote. “When we gathered them together to present them to her, we didn’t have just a sheet of paper covered in names… Instead, we had page after page after page after page of long messages offering condolences, peace, love and support. There were even a couple of cash donations, and more than a few tears.”
When the plane landed in Orlando, Karas announced a moment of silence to honour the woman’s late grandson.
If that weren’t enough to make your heart sweet, Karas reckons every single passenger on board took the time to offer their condolences to the lady before disembarking.
“As we deplaned, EVERY SINGLE PERSON STOPPED TO OFFER HER THEIR CONDOLENCES,” she explained. “Some just said they were sorry, some touched her hand, some hugged her, some cried with her. But every single person stopped to speak to her, and not a single person was impatient at the slower deplaning process.”
Because it’s so bloody nice to be reminded of all that’s good in the world in the wake of something so awful, Karas’ story has gone viral; it’s been shared more than 36,000 times so far.
You can read it in full here:
As Karas replied to one of the commenters, “We hated that it was necessary but it was truly our honor to do it.”
Bravo to this bunch of kind-hearted humans.
Source and photo: Facebook.
