Fighter Pilot... An Attitude in Life

Fighter pilot is an attitude in life, my flight instructor used to say this every now and then, and more so when I was in trouble.

But I now use these words to help me focus as I lead a life of an earth bound misfit.

My office has shifted from the blue yonder where never a lark flew nor an eagle soared, to the concrete jungles filled with many a scavengers waiting to feast on a small flaw.

The laws that govern my life have changed. Changed from those written by nature, to political ones written by knaves for masses to follow..

The laws of Physics, the straight forward mathematics determining the forward throw of a bomb at 950 True Air Speed, have all been long forgotten, except for lingering memories which help me recall their existence.

Today I follow laws that are based on the ever so fickle perceptions of the selfish human mind, that they can hardly be called laws.

I once used to live my life by rules that were written in blood. Rules that were so strict that if broken could easily be paid for with the ultimate sacrifice. Today I live life by rules that are framed, based on perception. So strange are these rules that they are meant to be broken in a manner that the slumbering rule keeper is not to be awakened. Never matter that the rule was in the first place inconsistent.

I rode with those, and was one who scarcely cared about what stories were woven or twisted by knaves for fools to believe. Today I live my life with crabs in a bucket. I have stories behind my back, and worse still, I have become a fool myself, believing in stories twisted by knaves. I have to choose friends carefully, not as I would chose any wingman to be my number 2, coz we all trained to watch each others backs.

I need to comfort myself in accepting the fact that laws based on human perception are bound to change depending on the susceptibility of those perceptions. A fighter pilot would create a favourable perception always.

I need to accept that some rules are meant to as consistently broken as maintaining a hundred and nineteen on a highway limited by a hundred because at a hundred and twenty, the mechanized cop will click for you an extremely expensive photograph of your registration plate.

I need to understand that it’s this nineteen extra kilometres an hour is what will make a difference between a miss and a hit. A fighter pilot will break the rule by nineteen kilometres.

I need to tell myself that even though I live among crabs, I do not necessarily need to be a crab. Jonathan too lived among souls squawking for leftovers thrown off boats carried by the tides, but continued to focus on his passion. A fighter pilot will focus despite all odds.

I have realised that very few have the courage to accept the limitations of their perception. Accepting this limitation is what a fighter pilot is trained to do, and as I was and that is what I must continue to do.

I need to remind myself now more than ever before, that a fighter pilot is an attitude in life.......