So you go to the airport and ask the ticket agent for a ticket to Australia. All around you, excited people are boarding planes for Australia. It seems that there is no seat for you; you'll have to wait for the next flight. Impatient, but anticipating a wonderful trip, you wait—and wait—and wait.
Flights to Australia continue to come and go. People say silly things like, ‘Relax. You'll get on a flight soon.’ After a long time, the ticket agent tells you, "I'm sorry, we're not going to be able to get you on a plane to Australia. Perhaps you should think about going by boat."
"By boat?!" you say. "Going by boat will take a very long time and it costs a great deal of money. I really had my heart set on going by plane." So you go home and you think about not going to Australia at all. You wonder if Australia will be as beautiful if you approach it by sea rather than by air. But you have long dreamed of this wonderful place, and finally you decide to travel by boat.
It is a long trip, many months over many rough seas. No one pampers you. You wonder if you will ever see Australia. Meanwhile, your friends have flown back and forth to Australia two or three more times, marveling about each trip.
Then one glorious day, the boat docks in Australia. It is more exquisite than you ever imagined, and the beauty is magnified by your long days at sea. You have made many wonderful friends during your voyage, and you find yourself comparing stories with others who also traveled by sea rather than by air.
People continue to fly to Australia as often as they like, and some say things like "Oh, be glad you didn't fly. My flight was horrible; traveling by sea must be so easy."
You will always wonder what it would have been like to fly to Australia. Still, you know you have been blessed with a special appreciation of Australia -- after all the beauty of Australia is not in the way that you get there, but in the place itself.
By Diane Armitage printed in the April 21, 1995 Dear Abby column
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