Dave Barry takes a break from humor to write a heartrending, touching, and poignant piece on the heroes of Flight 93.
In the Gettysburg Address, Lincoln was essentially trying to answer a question. The question was: How do you honor your heroes? Lincoln’s answer was: You can’t. No speech you give, no monument you erect, will be worthy of them, of their sacrifice. The best you can do is remember the cause they died for, finish the job they started.
Of course the passengers and crew on Flight 93, when they set out from Newark that morning, had no cause in common. They were people on a plane bound from Newark to San Francisco. Some were going home, some traveling on business, some on vacation.
People on a plane.
Which makes it all the more astonishing, what they did.
Of all the September 11 retrospective pieces I’ve seen, it’s a humorist who comes up with one of the most eloquent and poignant.
Agreed. Wonderful article.
It reminds me of David Letterman’s show after September 11th of last year… seeing the king of insincerity and sarcasm show a different face to the world was an interesting experience. Even more interesting was seeing Dan Rather (who I always assumed to be about as emotional as a lead ingot) break down in tears.
Proof again that, even under such strange circumstances, nobody can communicate like a humorist.