This was also to show that people are more concerned with their own feelings than others. The entire time the man sits next to Sedaris, he does not once ask if he is okay or acknowledge the fact that this man is sobbing. Instead, Sedaris was more concerned with getting an extra bowl of ice cream. At the end of his story, Sedaris cries with his seatmate, not out of sympathy, but out of self-pity. He realized how much time had passed and how many good memories he had. It was because of his grief that he saw the man sitting next to him that it was perhaps the first time in his life that David Sedaris was truly in mourning. It wasn't a show-off type of heartbreak, it was genuine and heartfelt, the kind of emotion more people need. Sedaris may have realized how little time people have and how quickly it can slip away. This also shows that no matter what class of a plane someone is in, when a certain emotion is felt, everyone is first.