Let’s look at a story that played out on a runway in Victoria, British Columbia, because it’s a perfect, painful mirror of our modern society.
A Porter Airlines flight scheduled to fly from Victoria to Toronto was completely cancelled. Why? Because a young child repeatedly refused to buckle their seatbelt for takeoff. The plane had already left the gate, but when the crew noticed the kid standing in their seat, they had to turn back. By the time they dealt with the situation, the airport’s nightly runway curfew had set in. Takeoff was illegal. The flight was dead, and dozens of strangers were forced to spend the night stranded in Victoria.
Immediately, the internet split into its predictable, tribal camps. Some blamed the parents; others turned it into a partisan debate about “liberal parenting” or “MAGA anti-compliance.”
But let’s strip away the political garbage and look at this with some basic common sense.
This isn’t about politics; it’s about the complete collapse of civic courtesy and the rise of hyper-individualism. We have cultivated a culture where “my child’s comfort” or “my personal preference” in the moment overrides the lives, time, and money of hundreds of other people.
Think about the message we are sending to that child. They threw a tantrum, stood on a seat, and as a consequence, they successfully stopped a multi-ton commercial airliner and cost passengers thousands of dollars in missed connections and hotels. That kid didn’t learn about boundaries; they learned that their tantrums are powerful enough to ground a Boeing or Embraer jet.
We talk a lot about “protecting our kids.” But true protection doesn’t mean shielding them from basic, logical rules. It means teaching them that they are part of a society, and that their actions have consequences for others. If you can’t get your kid to buckle their seatbelt, you don’t belong on a commercial flight. It’s time we stop apologizing for basic discipline and start remembering that public spaces require a shared pact of respect.
