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I'm kind of afraid to go to sleep tonight.
'Cause last year, I was having a rough couple of days already. I finally went to bad around 4am, convinced that when I woke up, life would be better. I was gonna get out of the funk I was in.
Instead, my mom called sometime after 9:30am probably, because my brother lived and worked (and still does, I believe) in the D.C. and Northern Virginia area. Mom was at work at the hospital so she couldn't call him long distance to see if he was okay. I turned on my tv and then both tv's downstairs. At some point, my friend Jen called and we watched different channels and would tell each other to watch this channel or that channel.
I remember at one point thinking to myself that I've never advocated the death penalty for anyone, but I thought that day if they ever found out who was behind the devastation, then while I myself couldn't necessarily pull the switch, I wouldn't stop anyone else from doing it.
A dear friend just called and asked how I was and I got choked up because of all these emotions running through me...for instance, when I hear the stories about the people running back into the buildings to save others, I know that Jamie would have been of those people running back in. And when I hear the stories about Flight 93 and the brave passengers who fought back, I can imagine myself among their ranks, not willing to sit back and take it. I just feel so lost today...heck, I don't even know how to end this entry...but at the very least, I do think I feel better having gotten some of this off my chest....
The following is from an article by MSNBC that really touched me...
"They did know they were running out of time. They were making a plan, and any number of people were willing and able to carry it out.
Lou Nacke, a guy with a Superman tattoo on his shoulder ,could probably back it up.
Mark Bingham once tackled a mugger on a San Francisco street. That summer, he had run with the bulls in Pamplona.
Japanese student Toshiya Kuge played American football; he was a linebacker.
Richard Guadagno, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service manager, was trained in hand-to-hand combat.
And Jeremy Glick wasn't just another guy in a business suit.
"When he was in college, he was the National Collegiate Junior Judo Championship," says Joan Glick. "So he was really strong."
There were strong women, too. Flight attendant CeeCee Lyles was a former cop.
"CeeCee was a tough one," says Lorne Lyles. "CeeCee was a very tough cookie. Even when we play and wrestle around, I know she's pretty tough. So I would say that, you know, CeeCee probably had her hands in her own fate. Because she always wanted to determine her own fate anyway."
New York Times reporter Jere Longman spent months investigating the Flight 93 story. In his book, "Among the Heroes," Longman reports that Debby Welsh, the six-foot-tall senior flight attendant, had overpowered a drunken passenger once, and shoved him into his seat. Passenger Deora Bodley had been captain of her high-school basketball team. And both Lauren Grandcolas and Linda Gronlund were trained emergency medical technicians.
"Linda Gronlund had once dislocated her leg, and had set her own kneecap in the driveway while waiting for the ambulance to arrive," says Longman.
Among the women, who else would have been known as tough?
"Well, there was Hilda Marcin," says Longman. "Once a man tried to snatch her purse, and she beat him over the head with her umbrella. So she wasn't afraid to stand up for herself.
Neither was 4'6" Colleen Fraser.
"She had red spiked hair," says Longman. "She once commandeered a para-transit bus and drove it down to Washington to browbeat the senators into passing the Americans with disabilities act."
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Follow the links to read the rest of the story:
Part one: What happened on Flight 93?
Part two: The heroic men and women of Flight 93
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