We're Going To Do Something
When I first heard about what had happened during United Flight 93 on 9/11,
the way 40 people who didn't know each other, who only knew that terrorists had hijacked airplanes and had flown them into the WTC, who had to know that something similar was planned for them, who got together and came up with a plan to fight back, who VOTED on that plan, who assigned tasks and responsibilities and worked together to attack the terrorists, who first called their families and friends to say "I love you" and "have a good life" because they knew their plan might not work, who rushed the terrorists together, forcing the hijackers to panic and crash the plane in an empty field in Pennsylvania,
when I first heard about what happened on Flight 93, I knew we were going to be okay.
More than what any politician or pundit had to say in the days after 9/11, it was the words and actions of those 40 people on Flight 93 that gave me hope. Because this is who we are.
Where they afraid? I'm sure they were. Did they panic? No. Did they know they were probably going to die? Yes, clearly they did. Did they think they should just sit there and take it, like helpless sheep calling out for someone to rescue them? No, they knew they had only each other and whatever skill, creativity and courage they could muster in the few minutes they had left.
Much has been said in the last few days about how Hurricane Katrina takes the place of 9/11 --and those who say it mean it politically-- that Hurricane Katrina proves that government is the answer and when government doesn't answer the question properly, people die and it's the government's fault. So some blame the deaths of those who lost their lives in the Hurricane on George W. Bush or some bureaucrat nobody's ever heard of (FEMA head Michael W. Brown). Other people blame the Mayor of New Orleans or the Governor of Louisiana.
I don't remember any report about Flight 93 that has any of the 40 people on that flight calling out for FEMA or the FAA or the State Troopers or the National Guard. They had each other, they knew it and they did what had to be done.
Because that's who we are. And that's true whether it be a terrorist attack or a hurricane. Instapundit (h/t: The Weeks Review) has a great story about how 18 people gathered at the Samuel J. Green School in New Orleans and kept each other safe during the Hurricane, fighting off thugs and reaching out to trapped neighbors with food and comfort.
From Flight 93 to the Samuel J. Green Charter School, this is who we are.
posted by Presley Bennett @ 9/11/2005
5 comments
5 Comments:
yea. they were heroes.. so are the soldiers who died in the wars in afganisthan and taliban.
we only see these in films.. in real life, it all looks bad.. very bad.. that we cant think about anything else other than running away from problems..
these brave people do teach us to be strong and face things.
Well said. Bravo Saije! That's who we are.
In the face of great evil, in the face of a societal collapse... the best of us shine through because that's who we are.
Kudos on a GREAT post!
I'm not sure if Shannon was trying to be flip, or if she just has difficulty expressing herself. She should be more clear because her comment can be taken in two distinctly different ways.
Anyway, you nailed it Saije. The country I live in is full of kindhearted brave people like the ones you've written about.
Maybe in the future 9/11 will come to be a day on which we celebrate the kindness, generosity and bravery of our people.
Thanks for the reminder.
I'm taking Shannon's comments to be positive...because that's who I am!
I've often heard it said that heroes are not necesarily extraordinary people, but rather ordinary people who find themselves in an extraordinary situation-thus they act in an extraordinary fashion.
I think flight 93 was a perfect example of this. The fact that they ended their lives acting in such an extraordinary manner not only speaks well of them, it also speaks well of a country that produces such people.
Americans are a peculiar lot; we tend to be rather independent and solve problems on our own rather than wait for someone else to solve them for us. And, as you said in a previous post, we take care of our own. Often, our self reliance and belief in ourselves, as Americans, is mistaken for arrogance by those abroad. It's not arrogance, it's simply a deep belief in what we can accomplish based upon our history.
Flight 93 is a perfect example of the American character and you have so perfectly captured it in your post.
George Patton said that we should not mourn the dead, rather we should that God that such men lived. You have done exactly that in your post, Saije, and it is a fitting memorial to these "ordinary" Americans on the anniversary of a most extraordinary day.
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