Goodbye kisses, hugs and endless tears at the gate!
At the airport Dunedinin New Zealand, There is a time limit for greetings: 3 minutes, not a second more. A measure that has generated a media and social media wave, between those who cry out that it is absurd and those who, instead, applaud the initiative.
But what pushed the New Zealand airport to decree an end to prolonged outpourings? Apparently, the main reason would be the stalemate, not to mention the traffic jam, that is created in the passenger loading and unloading area.
“Too many hugs, too many tears, too many cars queuing“, the airport managers must have thought. And so, away with the signs ordering travelers to get a move on and limit their effusions to 3 minutes, under penalty of immediate eviction in the parking lot.
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“We just want to keep traffic flowing and give everyone the chance to say goodbye to their loved ones,” he justifies Dan De Bonogeneral manager of the airport. But his explanation did not convince everyone. “We’re not robots! The airport should be a place of emotions, not an assembly line,” thunders a user on Facebook. And in fact, the idea of timing hugs as if they were a stop at the parking meter has, for many users who have commented on the news on social media, something dystopian.
The news has in fact triggered a wave of indignant comments. “Inhuman!”, “Absurd!”, “But how do you put a limit on love?”, we read among the comments on the Facebook post that relaunched the news. There are those who joke: “Next step: timing the kisses?“, and those who propose to extend the rule to other contexts: “We need a similar sign in front of schools! In the morning, accompanying the children becomes an epic undertaking with greetings, hugs and endless recommendations.”
Among the most popular comments, that of a user who, with a good dose of sarcasm, writes: “Excellent idea! This way we will avoid missing our flight because of those crybabies who won’t stop sobbing.” (This comment, by the way, received hundreds of likes, a sign that the topic touches a raw nerve).
But there is no shortage of voices out of the chorus. Some, in fact, applaud the initiative, underlining how airports are often the scene of embarrassing scenes and excessive outpourings. “Three minutes are more than enough for a greeting,” comments one user. “And then, let’s face it, no one likes to watch tear-jerking dramas in public.”
In short, the issue of “timed hugs” divides public opinion. On the one hand, there are those who defend the right to express one’s feelings freely, and for however long one wishes, and on the other, those who call for a bit of “practical sense” and respect for everyone else.
And you, what do you think? Are you willing to sacrifice a few minutes of pampering in the name of airport traffic? But beyond the controversy, the Dunedin airport affair raises a broader question: how much space there is for emotions in an increasingly frenetic and regulated world?
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