Listen To Your Flight Crew!

We take safety for granted.

At least for air travel we do. It's easy to forget that we're flying through the air at hundreds of miles per hour.

On a recent flight from Hawaii to the mainland, 

there was a woman across the aisle that did not choose to wear her seat belt. It was clearly available for her to use, but for whatever reason, it was left to freely dangle in the aisle. For the entire flight. She was given a friendly reminder by the flight crew, at least a couple of times before landing, to buckle up. She seemed to acknowledge them, but the seat belt remained in the aisle. It seemed as though at least one of the flight crew members was friends with her, or at least knew her. Thankfully our flight landed without experiencing too much turbulence, or any negative g-forces that could have picked up and held any loose objects (or people) against the ceiling, before letting them fall back to the floor (or onto somebody) once we returned to level flight.

On another fairly recent flight, 

there was a man sitting across the aisle from me, with a couple of vacant seats beside him. He had his backpack, which looked like it was stuffed to the gills, sitting on the seat beside him. I'm not sure if it had ever been properly stowed. Again, before landing, he was reminded at least a couple of times by the flight crew, to stow the bag. It remained on the seat beside him until he was ready to get off of the aircraft.

Flight attendants are trained, first and foremost, 

to keep us, the flying public, safe while travelling. They are our servants in that regard. They are NOT primarily there to serve us food, or to otherwise tend to our whims. When they request that we do something, it is for our OWN safety, or for the safety of everyone on the plane. We really owe it to ourselves, and to the people flying with us, to listen to what they have to say, and to honor their requests.