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I recently learned a lot about social tolerance and when it goes too far.
I boarded a flight from Sacramento having attended the Cal Cities City Leaders Summit. It was a Friday afternoon, and people were anxious to get home. One of the last boarders threw himself into a middle seat across the aisle from me with a noticeable thud. We’ll call him Chuck. Soon the crew announced that there was going to be a delay while they addressed a warning light on the dashboard. In my head, I celebrated that the light was discovered while still sitting on the ground, and not at 32,000 feet.
Chuck became noticeably agitated, as he loudly declared the need to “get the f*** into the sky” and “let’s f**** go!” This did not go over well with those sitting around us, but the outbursts were not reaching the ears of the flight crew, who were focused on the cockpit. The man next to Chuck gave me a look. It was quickly becoming clear Chuck was either high, drunk or in need of intervention.
“Do we have a situation here?” I asked him. He stared at me, his eyes wide with uncertainty. His outbursts then became interspersed with random objects being pulled from his carry-on bag, including a salt shaker. The woman to Chuck’s left, trapped in her window seat, stared intently out the window, trying her best to avoid contact. This went on for ten or so minutes.
Suddenly Chuck yelled at the lady in front of him to stop talking about her “f***” grandmother. “Hey, sir you need to chill out,” I blurted. This was met with a challenge to fight and a stare-down. Eventually he turned his attention away from me and toward the salt shaker, turning it over and over in his hands. At that point I stood up, walked to the back of the plane, and alerted the crew that Chuck needed to go. Within three minutes, the matter was over and Chuck was escorted off the plane.
Next came the expressions of disbelief, tears of relief from the woman to Chuck’s left and a thank you from the crew and passengers for bringing the issue to their attention. I am not a fan of conflict, and I recognize that speaking up took no real courage. But what I saw in that fifteen minutes of awkward wondering, fear and cajoled silence was an analogy for the mood of Californians right now.
As I visit cities across our state, I meet residents who are fearful in the face of rising crime and open drug use, and are starting to speak up about it. The mood shift is clear in Sacramento where legislative leaders have recently advanced a series of bills that seek to roll back some restorative justice laws that had been implemented in recent years. Meanwhile, an initiative to rollback parts of Proposition 47 has also advanced with over 900,000 signatures gathered and California district attorneys and sheriff’s feel momentum on the effort.
Change may be coming to your community, too. Residents want to feel safe in their homes and neighborhoods, and as more Chucks are addressed, I can’t help but think of the appreciation and relief the quiet majority will feel. Californians are a particularly tolerant group, but policy leaders should not mistake tolerance for agreement. Make sure you’re listening and observing, even when things seem quiet. More and more, people want Chuck off the plane with haste.
Flying the Friendlier Skies,
Ryder
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