My cynicism teaches me the most. It leads me into mistakes and false assumptions, and when people tell me that everything isn’t as stupid or useless as I think, I learn through error and remember by embarrassment. Today, a girl named Ally sat down next to me near the payphones in the Delta Baggage Claim at JFK. We were sitting on the floor by the only two plugs in the whole place. She was also from Central Florida, and she was very friendly. She was waiting for her friend so they could go to Times Square for New Years’ Eve. I told her immediately how awful I thought it would be, and I could tell she was disappointed I didn’t share her anticipation. She said it was a trip that had been planned before, and cancelled. It meant more than the ball drop.

And I said, aloud, that it was extremely rare to see that many people assembled for a joyous occasion. It might be one of the only secular gatherings of that size in the world. But I had lost Ally’s trust by that time, and she disappeared into her iPod to let me think about what I did wrong.

Wikipedia: Clear-air Turbulence