Tuesday, August 12, 2003

On a Serious Note....

Last week some questions arose about the heroism about the passengers on Flight 93. This "new" version of events says that the terrorists "deliberately" crashed the plane into that Pennsylvania field because the passengers never actually made it all the way into the cockpit.

Huh?

What does that have to do with anything? Even under the new theory, it is believed that the reason that pilot Ziad Jarrah went into the final, fatal dive is that the passengers were coming up the aisle and overpowering the other hijackers. Whether the final struggle took place in the cockpit or in the passenger cabin is totally irrevelant. What does matter is that in their last moments, the passengers and crew came together in a final bid to control their destiny. Those passengers and crewmembers surely knew what the likely outcome would be. And thanks to that decision, further death and tragedy were averted on that awful day.

I have often wondered what I would have done in those same circumstances. Would I have had the guts to join in that revolt, or would I have cowered somewhere in a corner?

And to this day, I'm still not sure.

0 thoughtful ramblings: