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Guest Opinions Guest Opinion: Marijuana offers Oregon benefits, drawbacks Guest Opinion: How to end the influence of money in elections Guest Opinion: How schools teach U.S. history raises hackles Guest Opinion: Guest Opinion: Raise your voice against child abuse Lifestyle Latest stories Lost in Suburbia: April showers bring May diets 5 Things to Do This Weekend (April 3-5) Dave Ramsey: Dad’s career choices aren’t working Dear Monty: Relocation brings pay raise and challenges The journey from inspiration to written recipe Food The journey from inspiration to written recipe Tammy Kelly: Lighten up traditional Easter desserts Kitchen Call: Goat cheese recipes worth bleating over Community blog: Try slightly smoky baked beans instead of refried App Finder: Best barbecue apps Home and Garden Dear Monty: Relocation brings pay raise and challenges Garden Cameos: Planning for a fragrant garden year round Paul Rogers: Choose the right tool for job in the garden Home Help: Easy enhancements for your master closet Prepare the beds for summer vegetables Health Brent St. Germain: Feeling the burn again HealthStyle: Normal anxiety or anxiety disorder? Community blog: How to Get Rid of a Tension Headache St. Mary's student helps others with diabetes Community blog: Sleep Tight: Making Your Bed, Body and Mind Ready for Rest Hiking Biking Faith Religion briefs: Friday, March 27 Religion briefs Religion News: Presbyterian Church gives approval on same-sex marriage Religion briefs: Friday, March 13 More religion events in the Rogue Valley Milestones and Achievements Haga-Parks Exercise helps special-needs kids adjust to airport procedures Engagement: Workman-Wright Columnist for a Day Rogue Healthy Aging Tempo Latest stories Trivia Tuesdays at South Stage Cellars Sweetwater String Band tonight at Oberon's Tavern in Ashland Rising Stars raises $10,000 for LIFE Art ‘Million Dollar Quartet’ plays the Craterian Theater Here's Tempo's top five picks for live entertainment this week Theater Review: From past into present in OSF's 'Long Day's Journey' ‘A Dream of Red Pavilions’ at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival Review: Education and its discontents Next Stage Repertory presents 'Educating Rita' at the Craterian Theater Eugene O'Neill's 'Long Day's Journey into Night' opens at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival Music Sweetwater String Band tonight at Oberon's Tavern in Ashland Rising Stars raises $10,000 for LIFE Art ‘Million Dollar Quartet’ plays the Craterian Theater Futurebirds play the Brickroom in Ashland The 2015 Rising Stars music competition ends with its final round on the Britt stage in Jacksonville Community Events Get Up & Go: April 1 Trivia Tuesdays at South Stage Cellars Rogue Valley artist Linda Evans' pastel paintings capture landscapes of Southern Oregon Ashland Independent Film Festival announces this year's lineup OSF Hip-Hop Poetry Open Mic Dining Restaurant Inspections: March 29 Basque-inspired cuisine at Eleven in Ashland Parsing the meaning behind wine medals and scores Restaurant Inspections: Sunday, March 22 Jasmine Thai Cuisine Tempo Videos Classifieds Jobs Autos Real Estate FEATURED » Obits Blogs TV Listings Movie Listings Oregon Outdoors Oregon Healthy Living Special Sections Business Services NEWS NOW Our View: The tangled web at Medford's Northgate Center ... Oregon AG sues White City company over subscription scam ... Police investigate mini-spree of White City car break-ins ... Our View: The tangled web at Medford's Northgate Center ... Oregon AG sues White City company over subscription scam ... Police investigate mini-spree of White City car break-ins ... ANOTHER VIEW Kathleen Parker: A leap of faith — into thin air MailTribune.com Writer Posted Mar. 30, 2015 @ 12:01 am Posted Mar. 30, 2015 @ 12:01 am » Social News p bs:newslist StartDate="20121121" EndDate="p bs:datecalc Months="3"" DateSort="1" UseObjects="1" ObjectClass="81" Taxonomywords="2325,665" ExactTaxonomyMatch="1" Image="1" Count="4" --> The apparently intentional downing of a Germanwings airliner by the co-pilot has us riveted, as commercial plane crashes usually do. In each terrible instance, we put ourselves in the cabin, imagining what our last thoughts or actions would be. Would we close our eyes and pray? Would we scream? Would we seize the person next to us, desperately grasping at one last human connection? What is it like to realize your plane is out of control and there's nothing to be done? Or that, inconceivably, your pilot or, in this case, your co-pilot, is out of control? Such dark thoughts capture our imaginations briefly before we shove them back into some remote recess of the mind never again, we hope, to be retrieved. This conscious act of self-defense protects us from the horrifying possibility that someday we, too, might find ourselves strapped into a missile on a suicidal mission. Unthinkable is the word for it. We remind ourselves that these are, indeed, rare events. And though this is not the first apparent suicide crash, we might hope it's the last. After all, as we've heard countless times, you're more likely to die in a car crash than a plane crash. And the most convincing rationale for flying without fear is the eye-rolling reminder that no one talks about all the safe landings every day. We do, however, remark when a pilot makes a heroic landing, bringing his mammoth flying machine to a safe halt — in a river, no less. Nearly every American knows about Capt. Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger and his "Miracle on the Hudson." We love the lifesavers and worship the heroes whose awesome competence reassures us that the end is not yet here. Sully was John Wayne of the skies — a good man, solid and true, reliable, brave and cool under fire. Contrast him to the Germanwings co-pilot, Andreas Lubitz, who is every bit the monster the terrorist is. Perhaps worse. The latter-day, knife-wielding infidel-slayer kills an innocent in a brutal, hands-on act of extreme human interaction. The co-pilot bars himself from the people he intends to destroy, methodically resetting the jet's autopilot to an altitude that will ensure death to 149 strangers. Rod Serling's gremlin on the wing, ripping out the guts of one of the plane's engines, is a bedtime story compared to the cool detachment of the co-pilot apparently flipping a switch to lock out all others and begin his self-imposed descent into smithereens. Did he enjoy the agony of the pilot flailing hopelessly against the locked door? Did the screaming of passengers moments before death bring him satisfaction? According to French investigators, the last words the pilot uttered to his 27-year-old co-pilot as he stepped out of the cockpit, apparently for a restroom break, were: "You are in control." In fiction, these now-chilling words would be a not-so-subtle foreshadowing of doom. For the passengers and crew, they were a death sentence. Alone in the cockpit for the eight minutes it took to crash, Lubitz's breathing was captured on the voice recorder. Breathing in, out, in, out, in, out. What a vile soundtrack, what evil commentary on the soon-to-be breathless. His poor parents. But not, please, poor Andreas Lubitz. He may have been depressed, they tell us. He may have broken up with his girlfriend. Oh, too bad. He seems to have suffered an "illness" on the very day he flew, according to torn up "medical leave" notes found in his home. All. Too. Bad. It wasn't enough that air travel has become near torturous. Squished in seats too small for the petite, passengers try to retract their fleshy edifices into cocoons of personal space, praying for an uneventful journey and a slender seatmate. To such discomforts, we've now added the possibility that the pilot might have had a bad day. Most are familiar with the old fatalist saw: Hey, when it's your time, it's your time. May as well have a drink and enjoy the ride , says the jovial frequent flyer, his breath a mix of whiskey and weariness. In his bravado, we find consolation — and pray for contagion. Yes, of course, bring on the Fates!  But we also know the end of the joke: Yeah, but what if it's the pilot's time? Thanks to Lubitz, travelers will give this question more serious consideration. With a second glance into the cockpit as they board, passengers are bound to wonder: Who, really, is in control? Kathleen Parker's email address is [email protected]. MailTribune.com Writer Posted Mar. 30, 2015 @ 12:01 am » Comment or view comments /* $( document ).ready(function() { // Jquery mobile is trying to style the button and leaving a blank gry button on top of a white button $("#viafouracoms .vf-comment-controls li.vf-right").html(' Submit '); });*/ » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. calendar Connect with MailTribune.com Facebook Twitter RSS Back to top Reader Services Reader Services Home Subscriptions Subscriber controls Contact us Submissions Photos Events Letters to the editor Corrections Announcements Obituaries Story ideas Since you asked Alerts Email Alerts RSS Feeds Text Alerts Advertise Media Kit Home Products and services Ad rates Advertising contacts Mail Tribune Daily Tidings The Nickel Shop Our Valley Blogs Stay Informed Email newsletter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. 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