Seagull flatulence?

No.

One of Human Beings' fundamental entitlements, as enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights*

1- All human beings** are born free and equal in dignity and rights.They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
2- All human beings shall travel by air when and where they want, irrespective of their actual need to be transported at 845 km/h at 10 kilometers above sea level (where the boats crawl)

BECAUSE THEY HAVE TO.

Our definition of compulsion for air travel has somewhat evolved over the last half century.
Where does one set the acceptability threshold when it comes to the notion of "I have to be there"?

Bereavement, life changing operation, birth, wedding, tourism, stag weekend, work commitment, humanitarian aid, sporting event, lusty weekend away, anniversary, "I've never been on a Boeing 777-300 ER", honeymoon, holiday of a life time, bet, world summit, prize winner, war, diplomacy, deportation, "my air miles were going to expire", 3rd Farewell World Tour, "the ferry was overbooked"
Where does it start? Where does it end?
One thing is for sure. Without us paying too much notice, air travel has become quite essential to us all, as a collective. Vital even. We just simply cannot do without it.
If we had to fuel these 747s with kittens, we'd do it. We'd find them a lot less cute, all of a sudden. They'd be accused of planning to make their own atomic bomb. They'd be vilified. They'd get us airborne.

The closure of the northern European airspace over the last week has proven just how hard it is to do without a "commodity" that has spun out into overdrive to become a "necessity". Just like our running water, our electricity, our broadband, our television, all these possessions and "services" that own us.

We think ourselves so strong, so developed, so resilient, so prepared.

When we are so easily thrown into disarray. So easily scared. So easily lost.

Having never lived through a war or period of absolute chaos, I have like all my generation, my children's generation (even my parent's generation) come to believe that so many things are my dues: food, shelter, electricity, medicine (well it's relative, I live in Ireland after all), air travel, paid holidays, vaccination, download speeds of more than 20 Megabytes/second and regular promotions in the wine section at my local Tesco.

I sometimes dread what is actually on the horizon, following glimpses like this one.

Three consecutive generations without any major shit hitting the western European fan seems like a long time. A long time indeed.

RELATED RAHENYMATION


* Universal does not apply in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo
** Does anyone know in what year the unPC "men" was replaced by "human beings"? I'm not trying to be funny, I'm really interested in finding out. Or was "human beings" used in the first version in 1948?