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Society epitaph “They were a litigious people”

As I wait to hear the voice calling for passengers to board the plane to Tampa, Florida for Commodity Classic, I wonder if my flight will be delayed. Will weather in other parts of the country backing up flights and keeping me waiting at Kansas City International Airport? I do not love to fly, hate to fly or have any fear of flying. It’s not something I look forward to, nor do I dread getting on an airplane. I prefer air travel to driving 15 or 16 hours to a destination.

I am certainly glad that I was not left stranded in an airplane during the Valentine’s Day winter storm. Had I spent 9 hours in an airplane on the tarmac of an airport with no food or water, I would have been upset. As a matter of fact, I probably would reconsider flying again for a while and the next time I did fly, chances are pretty good that I would not fly with the same airline that left me on the tarmac for so many hours.

As is the case with any other form of transportation, events occur that upset the air travel universe. As far as I can tell, there is no one on earth capable of controlling the weather. Because of this well-known and not-so-readily-accepted fact, there are people who will attempt to get revenge for hours spent sitting in an airplane on a tarmac in a storm for more time than any of us would like. Unfortunately, instead of showing their disgust by complaining to the owners and management or choosing another airline for their next flight, they did what has come to be expected in our society: they hired attorneys.

The epitaph for our society should read “They were a litigious people.”

Because of the red-eye flight I’ll take this morning, I spent last night in a hotel near the airport. Upon my arrival at 8pm, I was surprised to find the lobby under construction, making it rather inconvenient for me to check in and then walk back outside to enter a separate area of the building to get to my elevator. It was quite inconvenient. I might have strained my back pulling my heavy suitcase those extra steps. I’m sure I can find an attorney to take my case.

Changing the subject before I get in trouble, let me just say that I hope some of you were able to enjoy the Illinois Beef Expo. I know a handful of beef producers who were anxious for the junior show to conclude so they could load cattle and generators on stock trailers and take them home where the latter was in great need. Parts of the state were hit hard by the Saturday-Sunday winter storm. One producer said he was told it would be 4 or 5 days before the power was back on his farm.

Iowa’s Director of Agriculture Bill Northey spent most of Monday at the state’s emergency operations center. He urged his state’s ag producers in need of generators as well as those with generators to spare to call the agency’s emergency operations center. If weather reports are correct, there is a very good chance another winter storm will have hit the region by the time you read this column.

Like many of you, I’ve grown tired of frigid temperatures, strong winds, ice and blowing snow. I really believe that if you take into consideration the hardship this winter’s weather events have caused us individually and as a society in the Midwest, we have endured enough physical and emotional anguish that we should be able to sue. If not that, I’m sure we can find someone to sponsor a bill in the state legislature prohibiting any more winter storms this year.

I’ve seen sillier legislation presented and passed by elected officials.