SIX YEARS SINCE 911: Remembering Flight 93

It was a pristinely beautiful day in America on September 11, 2001. Living in the State of Washington I was just getting my morning started when my brother knocked on the bathroom door and yelled “you better get out here, we’re being attacked.” The words were so bizarre I was sure he was joking about something. My initial response was “yeah right, leave me alone I’m busy.” But then I heard a tone of urgency to his voice that was very uncharacteristic for my jovial brother. That’s when I felt a coldness sweep over my entire body and I quickly got myself out to the living room where my kids and their uncle had the TV tuned to CNN. The scene before me was completely surreal. At first I thought I must be watching a movie trailer for a new Bruce Willis movie or something. But the CNN logo at the bottom along with the news scroll betrayed any idea this was anything but real.

As the morning continued news reports were coming in at a pitched rate and then witnessing the second airliner crash into the second tower in real time filled me with more anxiety than at any time in my entire life. Then a report that there may be more hijacked planes in the air and their targets were unknown caused me to wonder of perhaps we should start making plans to leave the city we lived in. Then it was reported that a third plane had hit the Pentagon, and then finally the report that a fourth plane had crashed into an empty field in Pennsylvania came. But it wasn’t until I heard that the FAA had grounded the entire country that I began to breathe again.

As it began to sink in that the attack was over and the country was beginning to evaluate the aftermath of what had just happened, I began to wonder how it was that one of these planes did not make it to its target. United flight number 93 had crashed into an empty field at a high rate of speed near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, just 150 miles northwest of Washington, D.C. At the speed they were traveling it would have only taken about 15 more minutes and they would have been successful. But they were not, and that was because a group of everyday Americans were not going to allow it. I also believe that if the passengers of the first three planes had received the same information the passengers of United 93 had, that day would have turned out very differently. But those first passengers did not know that these evil men were going to commit such a heinous act as flying planes into buildings filled with innocent people.

Despite several dramatic depictions of what happened on that fateful day aboard that doomed aircraft, none of us really knows exactly which person had the idea to take the plane back. Through the phone calls made by passengers we do have some idea that they were going to try and take control of the plane. There was talk about a passenger who had pilot experience, and that several passengers did not believe the bomb that was strapped to one of the terrorists was real.

And then there were the last audible words uttered by Todd Beamer “Are you guys ready? Let's roll." Words that became a battle cry for our troops in the impending fight against these monsters. To this day I am still moved to tears by those words. Todd and all the other victims of that day were just plain everyday folks trying to get through their day. The victims of Untied 93 and their act of heroism has been branded for all time into our collective memories. But I want us all to also remember the countless small acts of heroism that must have taken place aboard all four of those planes that day. Folks that put their own fear aside to comfort another. Crew persons or even passengers who might have given their lives to protect another from the terrorists.

We will never know exactly what took place on those planes prior to their end. But I do know there were Americans on those planes and in those buildings, and for that they were murdered. But the acts of the passengers of United flight 93, the other 3 airplanes, and the countless people who were part of the rescue that took place afterwards proves that terrorists may succeed at killing Americans, but they will never kill our spirit.

God bless America.

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Devin Barber, Politics Correspondent Devin’s column, “Left Of The Right” published twice weekly or more to Gather Essentials: Politics is a Blue Collar Democrats take on current political news.

Devin was raised by proud Roosevelt Democrats. Being the son of parents counted among the throng of Americans displaced by the Great Depression has given Devin a deep rooted passion for causes dealing with the poor and the working class.

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