David Misselbrook is a retired GP.
OK, pretty much anything to do with airports is a First World problem. But hear me out.
We were living in the Gulf where I was teaching at a medical school. My wife had been to the UK and we reckoned it would be fun to meet up in Venice before both heading home.
So my wife flew directly to Venice from London. I arranged an early flight from the Gulf, via a large halfway hub, before flying on to Venice. I had a 90-minute transit time at the hub, due to get into Venice late morning.
The plane landed at the hub 10 minutes late. That’s OK, still plenty of time. But no air bridge — we wait 20 minutes for a bus. The bus comes, we get on, the bus stops within sight of the terminal — there are no slots. This airport has multiple short and medium distance flights landing at 6 am, most passengers in transit. When we get into the terminal it is a crush, a seriously unsafe level of overcrowding. There is no chance of pushing through to the gate for the Venice flight. I arrive at the gate after it has closed.
“… my comfortable Western privilege wasn’t working. I felt stranded, helpless, a powerless fragment of a distressed and angry crowd.”
OK, First World problem. The airline has a duty to sort me out. Only they don’t — the first plane landed more than an hour before the ongoing flight. Problems with buses and dangerous crowding don’t interest them.
OK, I’ll book another flight. But the airside airline help desk was besieged — everyone was in the same boat. The staff were busy on phones but were accomplishing nothing. They seemed to have no access to onward flights. They suggest that I go through passport control to the mainland side office. Yes, but I can’t do that here without an entry visa.
OK, no problem. I’ll book a flight using my laptop. But there is no Wi-Fi signal airside, except in the business-class lounge. OK, I’ll pay to get into the lounge. But you can’t get into this lounge by paying.
OK, no problem. I’ll ring my institution’s travel office and they will arrange a ticket for me. But there is no phone signal airside in this airport.
For the first time for many years I felt that I had lost control. Suddenly my comfortable Western privilege wasn’t working. I felt stranded, helpless, a powerless fragment of a distressed and angry crowd.
One-hundred and twenty million
It took me a couple of hours to solve the problem and my normal Western privilege started working again. I had just had the tiniest glimpse of what it felt like to be powerless and displaced.
The irony is that Venice — ‘la Serenissima’ — was founded by families of Roman refugees from Padua, seeking shelter in the remote marshes and worthless soggy islands of the lagoon as they fled from the invading Huns as the Roman Empire staggered and fell. (OK, I’ve simplified that a bit.)
“… Jesus, having been born in an outbuilding, was threatened with death, so his parents were forced to flee as refugees to Egypt. So no more sanitised Christmas cards please.”
The fall of the Roman Empire was a time of barbarism and grief. But such numbers are dwarfed by the figures for displaced families today. There are now 43 million refugees who have fled their own countries. Plus 68 million internally displaced people who have lost their homes. Over 120 million people, people like you and I, in all. Seventy-five per cent of them live in poverty. Two-thirds have been displaced for more than 5 years. And the overall figure increased by 7% in the last year.1 To misquote Stalin, one displaced family is a tragedy, but a million displaced families are a statistic — can we really grasp the scale of the problem? Which is more barbarous, the 5th century or the 21st?
A time for reflection
As we approach Christmas, our Western culture’s Saturnalia of extravagant consumption, remember a very unromantic part of the Christmas story. According to the gospel of Matthew, Jesus, having been born in an outbuilding, was threatened with death, so his parents were forced to flee as refugees to Egypt.2 So no more sanitised Christmas cards please.
I wish us all a merry Christmas. But let us also reflect. Most of us are remarkably fortunate to live in peace and relative prosperity. Let us remember those who have fled violence and may be in dire need. I’ve spent a few bob on Christmas presents for my family. How about something for the 120 million in desperate need? The Red Cross, UNHCR, Save the Children, or Action Aid, among many others, can help you to give a Christmas present to those who really need it.
References
1. United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Mid-year trends. 2024. https://www.unhcr.org/mid-year-trends-report-2024 (accessed 21 Oct 2024).
2. New English Bible. Matthew 2: 13–15.
Featured photo by Matteo Fusco on Unsplash.
