Important People

I don't even recall exactly when I heard it, but there was a local news report from a suburban business airport about a gate being left open and unattended at one end of the busy airport. The news guy said something to the effect of this being a major issue because "important people" come and go all day long from this airport. I wondered who he was talking about?

What is the definition of an "important" person? And who is a "less important" person, and of course, how about the "unimportant" person?

To me anyway, the important person has to be one who influences many of us. And, that influence must not be a coerced influence, but a voluntary person-by-person influence. The important person may or may not even realize they are important and influential. They must also be of high moral standing and one that walks the walk of their preachings or sphere of influence. They may be from any race or nationality, any social or personal wealth standing.

I think my definition would exclude most politicians. They seek to be "important" by thrusting their influence upon us through government coercion and legal threat. They are also, likely as not, ones that don't walk the walk of their talk.

Athletes and performers probably are excluded from my definition as well. Though they are no doubt, self-important, aside from helping sell us overpriced tickets to their events and, in the case of the athlete, overpriced paraphanalia for their franchises, they have little important influence on us.

So, what it all may boil down to is: Important people influence us without manipulating us. I doubt that many really important people fly from that airport.