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Song of the week: Live and Let Die, Guns N' Roses
Shortly after the events of 9/11, first hand accounts of the day began to unfold quickly. Some actually happened others did not. The events that took place on United Flight 93 captured my attention more than the others. Don't get me wrong the scenes in New York City and in Washington D.C. were horrific. Images of people making the conscious decision to die by smoke and fire or by free fall from 95 stories are images that will be embedded in my mind for the rest of my life...The necessity to make such a choice as those souls did on that day keep my life and the minor problems and inconveniences of daily life in clear perspective. The sight of those jets flying into the Trade Center is simply mind numbing...But like most Americans, life goes on and I sort of forgot... This post is a reminder to myself of the reasons why I woke up that day.... that awful awful day...
By now, you know as well as I what transpired on United Flight 93. If you don't, there are several books out there... I will list a few of them at the end of this post... Here were normal everyday folks doing everyday routines... Nameless faces that one may sit next to at a ball game or walk past in a shopping mall or get irritated with while in traffic. Ordinary citizens... Who knew that they would be called upon to make the ultimate sacrifice for one's country? Based on phone calls to loved ones and transcripts we know that every man and every woman on this flight was a hero. Why did Flight 93 capture my attention? The passengers and crew knew what fate their flight held. In conversations with loved ones watching the terror unfold on television, these men and women were told about the World Trade Center, were told about the Pentagon... These men and women had no idea why their flight was hijacked... they just knew that the fate that was in store for them was death and surely their destination was a building of significance to the United States. We now know that the terrorists had planned and rehearsed for several months (if not years) for this attack. The men and women of United Flight 93 had minutes to plan a counter attack... What ingenuity... what an American thing to do!A number of years ago, Michael and I watched a show on aviation test pilots... a crazy breed of pilot that risks life and limb to advance aviation... Chuck Yeager and Bob Hoover come to mind. In the face of a major malfunction leading to a probable crash... a test pilot does not say.... "I only have 10 seconds!" (to eject or crash or whatever)... Instead a test pilot says... "Hey, I still have 10 seconds!" (to save this jet).
The latter is what I believe the men and women of Flight 93 had... They had the attitude that they could beat the living crap out of those bastards that were trying to harm them and their country. I believe they felt that they not only could subdue these jerks, but had a good chance of surviving. That's the way Americans are built... I think about the wives and mothers of the men on that flight... Could I have been as strong as them? Could I tell Michael, "You have to overtake these men."? I don't know what I would have done. I don't know that I have the intestinal fortitude to be as strong as those women were that day... Despite the circumstances, could I have said the Lord's Prayer with a stranger? I just don't know. All I know is that these men and women... all of them... their true selves were exposed that day. Heroes all of them... They died gallantly. They thwarted the enemy's mission.
So, nearly five years have passed... I had forgotten how sad... then angry I was. This past Monday on A&E, the movie, Flight 93 aired. It was a moving and accurate depiction of the events on that flight. I cried during most of the movie. I knew all the names... I knew their bios.... all 40 of them... I remember.... I'm sorry that I had forgotten... if only for a brief time... It won't happen again...
... oh... and the next time you see a car with a bumper sticker that has a picture of President Bush with the caption "American Terrorist"----Flip 'em off!
Let's Roll
The Crew of Flight 93
Lorraine Bay
Sandra Bradshaw
Jason Dahl
Wanda Green
LeRoy Homer, Jr.
CeeCee Lyles
Deborah A. Jacobs Welsh
The Passengers of Flight 93
Christian Adams
Todd Beamer
Alan Beaven
Mark Bingham
Deora Bodley
Marion Britton
Thomas E. Burnett, Jr.
William Cashman
Georgine Rose Corrigan
Patricia Cushing
Joseph DeLuca
Patrick "Joe" Driscoll
Edward Porter Felt
Jane Folger
Colleen L. Fraser
Andrew Garcia
Jeremy Glick
Lauren Grandcolas
Donald F. Greene
Linda Gronlund
Richard Guadagno
Toshiya Kuge
Hilda Marcin
Waleska Martinez
Nicole Carol Miller
Louis J. Nacke, II
Donald A. Peterson
Jean Peterson
Mark "Mickey" Rothenberg
Christine Snyder
John Talignani
Honor Elizabeth Wainio
Kristin White Gould
List courtesy of A&E
Click on the picture for a link to A&E's website for Flight 93.
Related Articles and Web Sites about United Flight 93:
Photos from 9/11 and Aftermath
Flight 93: Forty Lives, One Destiny
ESPY 2002 Awards
Attack on America
September 11 News
Shanksville Memorial
Books about the heroes of United Flight 93:
Blogs to Check Out This Week:
The Truckin' Blog - A nice perspective of life from the road.
Oriental Redneck - The name alone works for me.
Gone Underground - Hell is empty, And all the Devils are here. Shakespeare --The Tempest
Thank You America - This blog is courtesy of cutie pie, Riccardo --- He's 16 and Italian and one of the good guys.
Housekeeping:
OK... I have MSOffice installed-- finally... I believe we are getting all our email now-- sometimes the same email 2 and 3 times... makes for a full mailbox, huh? I'm also playing w/ the settings on Spamkiller and having temperamental issues with Windows Media Player and QuickTime, I just haven't had time to get on with Dell Support... I'm still tweaking the blog , let me know if it is any faster. I'm going to try and change the "skin".... all this new lingo... but don't let that fool you...I still have no freakin' idea what I'm doing. Thanks to sexy Italian friend Bisqui for sending me to DynamicDrive.com--- Some of it is over my head and way too technical... but... I have 2 count 'em 2 drop down boxes... working on more.... multiple drop down boxes cause issues as well... blah blah blah....
Have a great week everyone. Enjoy the SuperBowl!
7 comments:
Very well done. It's important to not only remember but to stay angry about that day. We need to remind ourselves all the time - not just on the aniversary of 9/11. These were innocent people going about their lives. These people were our family and this act was murder. Stay angry.
Hi Cathy,
beautiful post. Remember Those people is a good idea, after 5 year. I don't know if you read the italian newsaper, but about the stori of the flight 93 they tell a lot of lies. Most of the newspaper and magazine, here, are owned by leftist...you can image.
PS: Sorry for my english and tks to your frendness. If you wish I can send to you a code to make the blogroll shorter, give a look to my blog if you like how I managed the links, I will glade to help you with yours.
Rob: Thank you. You are as passionate about this subject as I am and I couldn't agree more about staying angry.
Bisqui: Your English is fine! Better than my Italian!! I'll drop you a note tonight. I want to read your post regarding the cartoon, but I need more time to read it and work through the translation. I'm off to work now!
OK.
Bisqui... I couldn't figure out your email... Here's hoping you come back for a visit.
Drop me an email.
Top Left, click on:
Email me!.
Cahty,
carlo.bisquì@gmail.com
Cathy, I also watched the A&E movie. I have never forgotten, maybe, it is because of Mikey being in the Marines, and having to always have "war" on my mind. I think it was wonderful to get to "see" the bravery of the Heroes of flight 93, watching the movie made me sit and pay attention, it also made me very proud to be an AMERICAN.
Thanks for the great blog, a Proud, ANGRY, American...
Marti:
If you have time read those books I suggested. These folks were all extraordinary.
Thanks for checking in too!
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