The theory of flight

Of course it has to do with the feeling of weightlessness. But you would be missing something if you did not start from the most important thought. It is an entirely physical thing. Sure, you can dream of taking off from the ground or even imagine it. But it is not the same as physically leaving the ground entirely. To float. To take wing. To fly.

And it is not easy of course. Just because he is a long-haired “old” man in his late 50s does not mean he knows nothing of all these. As you stood over your skateboard you were right to ask him, “So Papa, tell me. How do you make this thing fly? What do you do? What is the theory behind it?”

How you honored him with your question. But you knew from the beginning that what you meant by “fly” was fly like your older brother, bigger by three years and already in high school, who spends his evenings on skateboards with his mysterious friends at some dark street corner somewhere in the city. The idea is to make the board do the required things and then some.

He required things to include making it jump, and/or turn every which way. Then there is flipping it once, twice or more number of times. Then there is turning it around 180 or 360 degrees. After which you might graduate to letting it come down a flight of stairs riding the railings, etc. Every feat has a name and forms part of a planetary subculture. You can research everything in the Net or YouTube. There you will find the names of the masters, the icons. There also you will see the gear and their brands. How much? How good?

But everything starts some early evening, for that seems to be the traditional best time to skateboard. The beginning of night is when you start to learn to fly. You are unlike most birds. This is flying as a bat might understand it. Almost blind and mostly on faith and the conquering of fear. This is flying in its most fringe-marginal sense. And yes, some might call it stupid and still be partly right. But they would be right and flightless.

First you must set the skateboard wheels into a crack on the street so it doesn’t roll or run. Sit over it with your knees bent. As if you were ready to do that thing best done by squatting. Drop your arms loosely on your sides.

The older brother requires that the feet must be positioned just so on the board. They are angled this particular way. There are two ways to do this, regular or goofy. Of course, you like goofy. So point the left foot midway across the rear tip of the board. Pump down into this before jumping up as high as you can.

Every act of jumping up with a skateboard results always in a terribly frightening crash as the skateboard wheels fall back into concrete. The feet land an instant later. Hopefully, they still fall into the board. Otherwise, they can land anywhere and with the most terrible results. This is not flying for the faint of heart.

But it does not take you too many days to learn. On the first day you had leg cramps. The second day was an “almost” day. You almost did everything right. But still the leg cramps. And then on the third day you did it. But all because your older brother coached you and even lent you his skateboarding shoes after you destroyed you own sneakers. And you screamed “Yes!” to yourself and the rest of the world.

The trick is to sweep your right foot sidewards as you reach the highest point of your flight. This lifts up the rear end of the board. The trick is to lift both arms ever so gracefully upwards until they become eagle wings in full spread. And then seeming as a miracle the board wheels rise with your feet from the ground into full flight. And there you are, your body shaped a particular way, legs bent at the knee, right leg higher than the left, toes pointed downwards like a ballerina’s, your arms high above you, flying.

And if it is only for fractions of seconds, in your head, you recall all these measuring everything in units of eternity moving in microscopic slow motion, the feeling of leaving earth and coming back down again, ever so gently in your own mind. After which you finally come to agree: Yes, we all do see the world differently, each in our own way. Even this thing called flight.