Cheaper than China!

I'm sitting in the departure lounge of Jhb Intl doing some random website updates and bemoaning this morning's loss by South Africa to the All Blacks (although NZ did deserve to win, I thought - more than we did at least). Marius has given me a book called "Prayers" by Michel Quoist (with the inscription: "To Sahib, from the Punk") which is a series of profound prayers rooted in everyday life - rather than pious religious fluff. Here's one called "The Subway" - which was the closest to flying I could find:

The last one squeeze in.
The door rolls shut.
The subway rumbles off.
I can't move;
I am no longer an individual but a crowd,
A crowd that moves in one piece like jellied soup in its can.

A nameless and indifferent crowd, probably far from you, Lord.
I am one wiht the crowd, and I see why it's sometimes hard for me to rise highter.
This crowd is heavy - leaden soles on my feet, my slow feet - a crowd too large for my overburdened skiff.
Yet, Lord, I have no right to overlook these people; they are my brothers,
And I cannot save myself, alone.

Lord, since you wish it, I shall head for heaven "in the subway."

I don't fly all that much but I must admit, there's a moment of sheer terror just as the plane takes off...that moment of "we haven't yet left the ground but it feels like we're airborn" - a point of tension between flying and being earthbound. The last few times I've felt that I need to make my peace with God because I honestly don't know if I'll live (!). Anyway...

Just after Marius gave me the book he pointed out the new ad campaign of YDE - "Cheaper than China." I snapped a pic with my phone - it's rather amusing... :)