Page 24 - voices-2022-06

FROM THE WINGS
turned sideways on the conveyor belt, and it
was now jammed in the doorway to the cargo
compartment. After much pounding and
prying, they got it loose, properly stowed and
we were on our way.
Are you thinking that it has to get better
now? Guess again. As I realized no more
bags were coming off the luggage carousel in
Johannesburg, and mine were nowhere to be
seen, I started walking toward the customer
service counter. A man with a clipboard
met me about halfway there and said, “Mr.
Kleffner?” Instinctively I knew it can’t be good
if he already knows my name. Actually, there
was some good news. They already knew that
my bags were in Paris, where I obviously failed
to claim them hours ago. My bags arrived the
next day, and things looked up as I began a
grueling schedule of delivering eight, full-day
seminars in ten days.
However, this ill-fated trip continued in the
same manner as it had begun. British Airways
lost my bags again between Cape Town and Tel
Aviv, and one piece of equipment was badly
When we least expect it, life sets us a challenge to test our courage and
willingness to change; at such a moment, there is no point in pretending
that nothing has happened or in saying that we are not yet ready. The
challenge will not wait. Life does not look back.
24 ONE COMMUNITY
damaged when it finally arrived the next day.
It worked well enough that I got through my
week of seminars in Israel, and then I went
for a much-needed week of vacation in Italy.
It was very foggy the day I was supposed
to fly out of Milan, so the plane couldn’t land
at the international airport. The weather was
better across town, so the plane was diverted
to the smaller domestic airport. They put all
of us, and our luggage, on a convoy of buses,
which actually got lost on the way to the other
airport. We finally departed many hours later,
meaning that I missed my connection in
London. More vouchers, missed connection
in Chicago, and home at last. As expected by
this point, my bags were missing and didn’t
arrive for several more days.
If you are waiting for the happy ending,
there wasn’t one. My very expensive camera
decided to malfunction so most of the pictures
I took in the beautiful Lake Como region of
Italy didn’t turn out. In case you are wondering,
I haven’t been on a British Airways plane since.
– Paulo Coelho