Adjusting on the Fly

Atlanta, GA
May 15, 2020

Georgia was freed from house arrest several weeks ago. But school is basically done, and our companies have retained work-from-home policies for at least a couple more months. Of course, one of us works for a company based in Ohio, where terms of surrender have been more unconditional.

But here, residents are “allowed” to leave their homes, and businesses are “permitted“ to open. Still, quite a few have not. Yet last week, on a gorgeous Mother’s Day, most seemed unconcerned. In old Roswell, outdoor restaurants were packed, and pedestrians plied the sidewalks. Only employees appeared to wear what were no doubt mandated masks. 

People kept a civilized, if not a social, distance. Perhaps they understood that in public policy the word “social” (much like the word “public”) tends to negate whatever word it immediately precedes. They were left at liberty to weigh and take risks. Or not. And they did…or didn’t…based on personal preference, as always when free men live life. 

David had a friend over on Friday. When the friend’s father arrived Saturday to collect his son, we invited him to the deck to catch up over a bottle of wine. I gave him his glass by hand, rather than extending it on a tennis racket or leaving it on a table to sterilize for a few days. We conversed for a couple hours, like normal healthy people. Not six feet apart, but also not six feet under.

The man to whom I handed the drink is a pilot. For years he flew for ASA and other Delta regional airlines. A year ago, he made the retrospectively wise move to start flying for a cargo carrier. He has been busy and done well, and is very happy to no longer be piloting passengers. 

Many erstwhile travelers will remain reluctant to be piloted. And not only because they will fear getting sick. Some won’t want to endure the ordeal of being in airports or on planes. Security theater was already ludicrous. Now they can expect health kabuki too. It’s as if we’ve never encountered a virus. 

The rumored measures are ominous. Arriving four hours early for a domestic flight. Being at the gate one hour before departure. Having to provide body temperature or other proof of fitness. Compelled to wear a mask…which is likely detrimental to those who are healthy (i.e., almost everybody). And, because of the compulsory face gear, passengers will be denied the in-flight drinks that are essential to surviving this gauntlet. Many will opt out altogether. They will drive. Or stay home.

Alexander returned from his morning flight lesson as we were talking to our pilot friend. For years our son has wanted to be a commercial pilot, and even the recent airline coronavirus carnage had not changed his mind. Nor did the conversation into which he walked. At least not at the moment he walked into it.

When Keynes was challenged about an opinion he provided that differed from one he’d previously expressed, he famously replied that “when the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do, sir?”

Keynes may not have actually said that. It was more likely Jefferson, Churchill, Twain, Lincoln, or Wilde. Every other attributable quote seems to belong to one of them, so why not this one? Or, it could have come from my son.

A few days later, on that same deck…our philosophical lanai…Alexander and I had another conversation. We discussed what he wanted to do, where he wanted to go to school, and other professional options if his first was not viable. 

The airlines are suffering something more than their normal cyclical decline. They don’t seem to be in a typical temporal trough. This feels secular…and, for some carriers, existential. Maybe the pilot shortage will have returned when my son leaves college in four years. Or maybe not. And then what?

We discussed other areas of interest, other potential fields of study. Perhaps he could pursue those in college, and his pilot license and commercial rating on the side.

Meanwhile, Alexander can monitor the airline conflagration from a safe periphery, without willfully running into a burning building. At a later date he may consider walking back in, but only after the ashes have cooled.

Meanwhile, his choice of college, Middle Tennessee State, suddenly makes less sense. Their Professional Pilot program was the primary attraction, and their only major that offers in-state tuition. Any other would charge full fare, and could be found elsewhere at comparable quality.

As we talked, Alexander described an abiding interest in biology, and anatomy. Middle Tennessee provides programs in these areas. But so too, we remembered, does his first love.

Auburn offers majors in Biomedical Sciences, including a Pre-Physician Assistant degree, among others. As a Freshman, Alexander isn’t required to declare a major nor chart his life. He need not figure everything out now, nor do so alone. Most people don’t have a career or business determined at his age. Many never do. As George W Bush said, the French don’t even have a word for “entrepreneur”. 

But that curriculum is one Alexander thinks he’d enjoy, and could perhaps lead to promising paths as yet unknown. As a silver-lining on the corona cloud, the storm arrived while he still had a chance to grab a new umbrella. And it caused Auburn to push its deposit deadline back a month, from the start of May to the beginning of June.

As added inducement, Auburn is also offering several online Freshmen summer courses at much lower rates. And Alexander’s Advanced Placement high school courses will exempt him from a couple other required classes. Between them, he can almost knock out a semester.

Auburn certainly costs more than in-state options. But man does not live by bread alone. The butter is important too. Like epidemiologists, bookkeepers can count. But they can’t figure. Intangibles matter. We must balance considerations of the heart on the scale with calculations in the head.

I visited both schools with Alexander. Middle Tennessee was fine, but if not for the flight program it would not have interested him. Auburn felt like a community, living up to its moniker as the loveliest village on the plains. Alexander has several friends either at or entering the school. Many are in the band, which he would join. He felt at home.

It’s not always easy having to be woken from a dream. But it is also not wise to close our eyes to an approaching storm. To every thing there is a season, and this is winter for pilots…a niche field in any climate. So Alexander adjusted on the fly. 

After two years planning, enrolling, and preparing for college, we changed everything in two days…major, school, and even start date. We will celebrate Alexander’s high school graduation next Thursday. After enrolling for summer classes, he will start online at Auburn the day before.

I am very proud of my son. He found a pursuit and a place that please him. And he can still keep his flight options open. He realized the facts had changed. So he did too.

And he’s not the only one. As a proud graduate of the Georgia Institute of Technology, I find myself saying something I never thought I’d utter.

War Eagle!

JD