A Quiet Sacrifice
“It was a queer, blank day, full of anxious watching [and] waiting…”
Laura Ingalls Wilder, Little Town on the Prairie
Of the four planes that were hijacked yesterday, three succeeded in wreaking destruction in the United States. One plane failed, and it is that failure which I intend to write about.
Details are sketchy, but this is known: Two planes crashed into the World Trade Center in New York City and one plane crashed into the Pentagon in the morning of September 11, 2001. The three planes carried a total of approximately 221 people.
Reports of cell phone calls from passengers and flight attendants from the hijacked planes have suggested that the hijackers were armed only with knives, and that the hijackers seized control by killing flight attendants and luring the pilots out of the cockpit.
We do not know how many hijackers there were on each flight, but it is reasonable to assume that the rest of the passengers and flight crew outnumbered them. It is unfathomable that any American pilot, under any type of duress, would knowingly steer his aircraft into an occupied American building, and it is assumed that some of the hijackers had to pilot the planes while others kept control over the passengers.
On Flight 93, Thomas Burnett of Pleasanton, California, called his wife and implied that he and other passengers were going to do something to try and stop the hijackers. Whether he was part of a group that did succeed in stopping the hijackers is unknown, but we do know one thing about Flight 93: something went terribly wrong for its hijackers.
Flight 93 came down in a wooded, deserted area some 80 miles of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. No one knows for sure yet if Camp David, the presidential retreat, was the intended target. Everyone on board Flight 93 is presumed dead. But no one on the ground died with them.
The other three flights that succeeded also presumably killed all of its passengers, but took along an inestimable number of lives in the buildings they hit. Why was Flight 93 the only one that failed to complete its mission?
Flight 93 was not equipped with more people, or inherently stronger or braver passengers. It was, in fact, the smallest flight of all four planes, with approximately 45 people on board, and did not consist of football players heading to a game.
Barbara Olson, sometime CNN commentator and unlucky passenger on the flight that hit the Pentagon, called her husband from the plane to report the hijacking, and also to ask him to tell the pilot what to do.
They were not unwilling to do something about the situation, but merely unsure.
Psychology studies have proven that in a crowd, people will often do less to help someone in need, because they look to others to see how they should respond to the situation. Without a clear leader to direct them, crowds are unable to perceive themselves as individuals who can accomplish something. If you’re alone, though, it’s obvious that you have to do something, because there isn’t anyone else to rely on.
Tom Burnett never lost sight of his individuality, and realized that each one of them could, and should, do something to stop the hijackers. Someone, or some people, on Flight 93 demonstrated the real meaning of courage yesterday morning, and prevented their hijackers from causing even more damage.
Courage is not about lacking fear. I feel certain that Tom Burnett, along with everyone else onboard all of the four hijacked planes, was terrified and confused about what should have been a routine flight. He wasn’t looking to be a hero, or even to survive.
Courage is about moving forward. It’s about continuing to try to do what’s right, even while you’re scared and shivering. Hijacking isn’t right. Killing innocent people, of any nationality or race or religion, isn’t right.
As America tries to recover from this terrible disaster, I hope that it can take comfort from Flight 93. I have great respect for everyone on Flight 93 because somewhere on that plane was someone, or some people, who stopped the hijackers.
Someone had the courage and strength to be facing certain death, and yet continued to do what was right. This person understood that justice has nothing to do with staying alive or getting revenge. It isn’t about knocking out an entire Palestinian village or going home to kiss your child goodnight. Justice is about doing the right thing, which in their case, meant doing all they could to stop their hijackers. And they were fortunate enough to have succeeded.
God bless America, and help us remember Flight 93 in the hard times to come.
Posted by: ssjane | September 12, 2001 | 5:48 pm
Posted in: Rants