Like Strangers On a Crashing Plane: Six Important Words, One Tattooed Reminder

[Edt. Note: Last week, we spotted Patrick Fedo tweeting about his tattoo. A tattoo that features a line from Ben H. Winters' The Last Policeman. We invited him to blog about it. Thanks for sharing with us, Patrick!]

 

When I discovered The Last Policeman by Ben H. Winters, I was instantly hooked. A noir-style murder mystery set in the pre-apocalypse? Sign me up. A refreshing take on both story and setting. But as I continued to read the series, the question "What's the point in solving a murder when the world is ending?" slowly started to reveal the true allegory at the core of this trilogy.

 

By the end of the third book, bleak and gray as it is, we finally get to the root message of Detective Henry Palace and his nobleman's journey. Throughout the series, Palace was often chided for his persistence in his goals. But then I realized, we're all Hank Palace. We're doomed the same fate. The world is going to end and we only get one go 'round on this blue marble. And in the short time we have, we're here to give each other strength and love, as Winters writes, "like strangers on a crashing plane."

 

Those six words are so important. Not only do they sum up the point of the books, those words sum up the point of life. So I had to get them tattooed, as a constant reminder to love and give strength, because we're all on our own crashing plane.