Ben Selzer
Mr. Pisterzi
English/ Fly fishing
14th September 2021
Personal essay
The air was stuffy and smelled of disinfectant. It was noisy. The conversations of the others
and the noise of the moving cars mixed into a wave of impressions.
I like airports. They give me a sense of order that is often taken away in this world. This was
the day I would fly. In my opinion everyone should do a year abroad. It gives me a new
perspective on life and helps to get to know other countries, cultures and languages. Maybe it
also helps me find my place in this world.
“Ben?” A voice snapped me out of my thoughts and brought me back. “I can't come with you
from now on.” My father explained. I hugged him and it gave me a feeling of safety. He
smelled like always. The odour mixture of his shower gel and shaving foam.
That would be the last time I would see him in a long time. I grabbed my backpack and made
my way towards the security area.
Closing off a certain part of life and leaving it behind is often not easy. It makes me realise
that the time I spend in this world is moving forward. I have been thinking about this a lot
lately. Death scares me. It takes away everything that you have built up with great effort over
your entire life. However, these thoughts also remind me to use this time properly. It helps
me to go through life more consciously so that I don't regret anything at an advanced age
when I no longer have the chance.
I put my backpack on the conveyor belt of the screening machine and watched it disappear
into the darkness.
"Over here!" A woman from the security staff waved me over, upset." We don't have time
forever." She grumbled. She reminded me a little of my grouchy maths teacher.
The extraordinarily unfriendly security woman pushed me towards the security scanner.
I did what she said and let her control me.
After I collected my backpack from behind security and was about to head for the gate, I was
stopped by two men in police uniforms. A cold feeling of fear came over me and I started to
sweat. I was not used to such a situation. I followed them into a bare white room. I felt guilty,
even though I had done nothing wrong.
"Have you ever come into contact with drugs?" a policeman asked me with his arms crossed.
He had a full brown beard, brown eyes and looked at me expectantly. I answered their
questions and explained to them that I would be doing a year abroad.
"Now I understand," the policeman replied, "despite everything, we still have to carry out a
drug test.”
While the drug test stick was being evaluated, the other policeman shone a small torch into
my eye. He had brown eyes, blond hair and looked like he was a bit older. His deep circles
made him look tired and unhappy. It felt like I was looking into the sun, it was an unpleasant
feeling that I had to get rid of. I closed my eyes and saw a yellow dot of light moving through
my field of vision. After the test was completed, the police officers took me to the exit and I
finally made my way to the gate.
For some reason, I was suddenly overcome with a feeling of freedom. It is not a matter of
course that I can shape my life the way I want to. I am grateful that I am free to make this
decision. It's important to realise how good we have it in the modern world.
038K was my seat. I was lucky. My seat was by the window. It was cloudy for the entire
flight, but it wasn't quite as boring and I was able to look somewhere other than against the
back of the front seat during the 10-hour flight. During the whole flight, I thought about my
past life and about the exciting time that now lay ahead of me.
"Every moment is of infinite value. "Johann Wolfgang v. Goethe