Flying to Breakfast: A New World on the Horizon

By Dori Seider PhD

Two women, a flight instructor and her student, take off in a small plane and fly their thoughts into the future. They land for breakfast, but their thoughts stay suspended in the air until they become relevant to today’s situation.

What were and are those thoughts? Please come and fly with us to breakfast and beyond. Feel free to fly your own vision of the future that we will build together.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Jan 7, 2021
• ISBN: 9781664150300

Dori Seider PhD

Dori Seider has been an author, teacher, therapist, music composer and jewelry design artist. She received her Ph.D from the University of Vermont in Burlington. Dr. Seider is a Fulbright Scholar. She and her husband Mac enjoy cooking and baking and their two beloved cats.

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Copyright © 2021 by Dori Seider, Ph.D.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Copyright © 2021 by Elliot Madriss: Cover Photography and Design

Rev. date: 12/09/2021

Xlibris

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CONTENTS

Preface

Acknowledgements

PART I

Learning To Fly

Chapter 1 Beginnings

Chapter 2 I’ll Never Be Able To Do This

Chapter 3 Adjusting the Controls

Chapter 4 Lift and Drag

Chapter 5 The Turning Point

Chapter 6 Trust

Chapter 7 Provoking Courage

Chapter 8 Follow Your Calling No Matter How Difficult

Chapter 9 Progress Check # 7

Chapter 10 Flying To Breakfast

PART II

Refueling

Chapter 11 A New World on the Horizon

Chapter 12 The Declaration Of Human Rights

PART III

Thoughts In The Air

Chapter 13 Children In Crisis

Chapter 14 How To Stop The Survival Struggle

Chapter 15 A Basic Human Right: Medical Care

Chapter 16 An Education Or A Life?

Chapter 17 Equality Speaks To Us Through The Ages

Chapter 18 For Justice

Chapter 19 Loved, Coveted And Inexhaustible—Democracy Reaffirmed

Chapter 20 The End Of War

Chapter 21 The Right To Pursue Happiness

PART IV

Staying The Course

Chapter 22 Following Through

Chapter 23 Heroes

Postscript

About The Author

A Word About Words

Book Club Questions

PREFACE

Can you imagine how surprised and delighted I was to rediscover an old diary, written while learning how to fly a small airplane with my flight instructor, Diane? In my past, I had made an unlikely decision to take some flying lessons that I could not afford and was not suited for, given no background in math, science or mechanics. Having read a book about Amelia Earhart as a child, I was inspired to take the lessons anyway.

In 2020, I made the discovery of the diary while housecleaning during sheltering in place for the coronavirus. I had not remembered where the diary was, or how detailed it was. But it seemed to appear out of nowhere, and it took on a new importance. This diary, I soon came to realize, was a window into my younger self and its fears, thoughts, hopes and reflections. It was not only about the mechanical experience of flying, but also about its exhilaration. And it contained some ideas relevant to the time period in which it was written, and concerned with what the future would bring.

So, back then, when I was standing on a Cessna checking the fuel level of its gas tank, the world seemed open to me. Check the levels, examine the plane, make sure it had been well-maintained, check for any bird’s nests in the back, complete the rest of the checklist and off we go.

Please feel free to accompany us into some uncharted territory. We would love to have you along on our flights. Diane will be instructing us in how to fly--meaning how to overcome fear, how to achieve precision, how to let go and trust and how to land well. What more could we possibly ask for? This is perfect simplicity and elegance.

And I think we all could use some of that simplicity and elegance right about now, in our complex, divisive and hate-filled world. At this point in history, we are facing extraordinary turbulence, while we change so rapidly that we can hardly keep up, yet alone know what will be required of us in the uncertain, unsettling days and years ahead. We will be needed to reshape reality for sure. What ideas from our aviation lessons will we take with us that will be relevant in creating our new world?

Maybe we will need exactly what Diane taught us--how to overcome fear, achieve precision, let go and trust, and land on brand new ground. What will landing on new ground look like and feel like to you?

What at first may seem like a fanciful flight of exploratory minds, will ultimately become a flight into the reality of the future. In spite of all that is going on, the excitement of creativity is in the air. We will together reinvent our lives after much rethinking. How beautiful, how safe, how healthy, how inclusive, how inspiring can life become?

I can’t wait to share with you the ideas that Diane, my flight instructor and I, had on our way to thinking about a rebuilt world of equality, justice, democracy and basic human rights. Flying the Cessna was just the beginning. These thoughts would evolve and mature over time, writing themselves into a new Declaration of Human Rights, with which to shape our future.

So, come to find out, I wasn’t just flying a plane with my instructor; we were flying it into a new dawn.

Thanks for coming along with us.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

At Xlibris, so many of you have been encouraging at all stages of the writing of this manuscript: Sid Wilson, Louise Panelo, Kaye Parsons, Melanie Jacobs, Jamaica Delfin and Hailey Alison. You have been wonderful, thank you so much.

Special thanks to Minaxi Hirani and Maheer Hirani at Postnet for their help with copying and sending the manuscript. Your kindness and devotion to your work make me happy every time I visit your center.

Special thanks to Elliot Madriss for his photography and graphic design work for the cover of this book and for the author photo. You have been an extraordinary production artist.

Special thanks to my brother Roy, quiet, gentle hero, whose hardships have been challenging, but who has survived each one with courage, strength and a great sense of humor.

Special thanks to my sister Cindi, friend, great lawyer, terrific mother, one who can always be counted on by everyone. Without you,