Rrrratch says the bag as it’s being dragged over the metal mesh. Pretty poor treatment for something that’s going to be tucked into a cold, cramped and dry place deep in the belly of a big metal bird. It would probably be much happier standing in a big, fancy shop window. But even the most luxurious palace would not be enough for those who make a life out of being on the move. They rejoice their liberty and take every moment to appreciate the new role as ambassadors of global travel.
Most bags that get out travelling acquire a fresh breeze and plenty of new sights. They get lived out of, making them feel important and getting to help someone in their daily travails. They get to open up a lot even as their internal structure gets revised day after day. Obviously the bag doesn’t mind, it’s just happy to share. But it does help brightening the day of the worn traveller with everything convenient and accessible, while providing new insights in how we live our lives.
Bags also get to notice some oddities along the way. How some people seem to spend their days in splendid riches and how others starve in sticky mud. How they both, in many respects, seem equally happy. They will be confounded by security checks, whom seem to get more concerned with every passing, usually not far from those already starving. Many bags might wonder whether there’s a correlation.
The grass is greener not far away
Though avid travellers, Bags would be surprised to discover that the people travelling with them spend most of their time at home and interact with friends and others only sparingly. They would be baffled at how easily the will to experience and explore is put away, just as easily as they tuck the solemn suitcase back up the attic. They would be equally astonished at how they symbolise movement, as they find themselves patiently waiting for action most of the time. But for the impatient bag which gets brought down ahead of time, it is all too clear that the live they know isn’t exactly what is expected of their walking companions.
Humans seem to have taken unto themselves the role as guardians of the land and in some aspects taken that role so seriously that it’s now a crime to move on, something that bags do find both laughable and sad. The humans, who themselves invented many new modes of travel, have not taken the heart the lesson that became the bags’ raison d’étrè, that urge to see new sights, live new movements, even live up to your potential. But under the protective umbrella of routine, many humans have tried to take shelter from the winds of change and rain of regrowth.
This staleness, that humans take onto themselves is normally justified by the belief that humans think of themselves as sedentary creatures. Bags disagree, they were built for movement. They stalwartly await the time when humans take the courage to tread new paths and there’s a need for the reminder that what you become is only limited by what you do. Even though a bag might go through a hard time as it is being shuffled around different back seats, never really getting to where it wants, it always retains the hope that bravery in front of the TSA and stalwartness when the thief comes will let the bag get over and ahead, no matter the odds or difficulties.
Nevertheless bags rejoice in the brief moments when people grab them off their stand and brings them out in the world. Even the ones that get left behind at a flight or dragged through the mud feel and experience more than any attic can provide. Has the human learnt something from the bag’s cheeriness when they go along on the pavement (bags’ wheels don’t like grass) in a monotone but happy chugga chugga? One may hope so, as no matter how advanced our culture gets, the bag seems to retain, if not its shape, its intrinsic value in our society. Thus, all change, movement, exploration that we do can, and hopefully will, be summarized in the age-old phrase, “Pack your Bags”, now starts the adventure.
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