An Unscheduled Vote; Thoughts On Flight 93 Heroes

self, various news sources | self, vanity

[Republicanus_Tyrannus]

Tuesday there were many elections taking place all over the United States. Most of them were small, municipal and county elections. Votes were made on subjects ranging from who would be able to claim the candidacy of a particular party for a particular forthcoming election, to the winning of such seats a councilperson or mayor.

But there was one vote taken that was not scheduled. No seat on any city council was up for grabs. No amount of campaign support was at stake. No determination on curfew, noise limits for parties, or whether or not a stop sign was being put up at an intersection was being decided. No scheduled vote was intended to affect the nation as a whole. But one did.

On a speeding aircraft, only partially filled, somewhere over the farms of Pennsylvania, a vote was taken. No other vote count was so heartwrenching. No other question so important was decided in these wide lands by so few. And their franchise claimed such a price, a price no person should ever again be forced to pay.

Three men spoke to their loved ones that day. United Airlines Flight 93 out of Newark was hijacked, and the men heard through their phones that thousands were killed a short time before by two other airliners in New York.
Their response humbles me.

They took a vote.

They voted whether to die resisting the monsters that came into their lives that election day. They voted on whether they would reach out and extinguish death by embracing it - whether they would die to save unknown people, in unknown numbers, somewhere in the morning ahead of them, rushing ever closer.

They took a vote.

And nothing in my life has prepared me to explain how I felt when I read those four words this morning.

They took a vote.

Sometimes you hear of something happening that can not fail to make you stop and swallow with a suddenly choked throat. Out of all this pain, this horror, three men did something that can only be described as 'holy'.

They took a vote, and all I can say is that they won.

Their names were: Mark Bingham, Jeremy GLick, and Thomas E. Burnett.

[Razz]

I also quoted you on my web site. Beautiful words. Thank you.

http://members.tripod.com/~ONAFA/Main.htm

[truthkeeper]

Another deserving BTTT.

[ValerieUSA]

Bumpety bump

[Razz]

Big Invisible Bump

[discostu]

Bump to get this viewed by the morning crowd.

[Techster]

An early afternoon bump.

[KillTime]

Bumping so a lucky few more get to see this.

[William_Rusher]

Mr Mark McGuires thoughts to a tee as per his responses on ESPN SportsCenter last night.

[Razz]

Bump!

[firetooth]

I agree whole heartedly that these men were all heroes. But, I believe that one passenger is being overlooked by the media. Richard Guadagno was a passenger on Flight 93 and a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Law Enforcement Officer. USFWS Law enforcement officers are federal law enforcers and go through some of the same training that FBI agents go through. I believe that he is a major part of this story that the media has yet to report on. I knew him personally and know that he was involved, especially with his background in law enforcement. He is also a hero in my eyes.