When those passengers needed clear headed action to save them, Captain Sullenberger held them together, literally and figuratively. He kept the plane from taking out part of New York, and saved all the people in his critical path. At the mercy of events well beyond his control or choosing, he did the nearly impossible and then was the last man off the wreck. He shouldered the responsibility adroitly. Like a good father, he did the job and made sure everyone, EVERYONE, was safe before looking to his own welfare.
Whatever george Wastrel bush said yesterday sank in significance. The airbus-turned-boat stayed afloat. A real hero stepped up to a real threat and took Bab's boy off page one of history in a way that was just damned poetic.
Whatever george Wastrel bush is, he has never been calm, competent, adroit, or one who looked to the greater good of others over his own safety.
The real miracle of Chesley Sullenberger is not that he pulled off a feat most of us would not believe had there not been media coverage, it was the stark contrast between real and make believe that he illustrated for America. The gentleman did not go looking for attention. He did not orchestrate an event to show off his skill. A situation, likely to turn tragic, arose and he rose to the situation and then some.
The pilot who pranced on that aircraft carrier under that Mission Accomplished banner, that illusion of a cowboy 'clearing brush' in a jacket with manufacturer's packing creases still visible, was always make believe. W has always been a contrived, orchestrated PR event, an empty suit, not a human being. Most certainly he was never any sort of hero, tho he liked to play with them on TV. He was a pouting, tantrum throwing two year old out to stick it to his uncaring parents. And he used America as the stick.
george Wastrel bush was a pilot only because his family had the pull to get him into a much sought after slot. He didn't do it on his own. It seems likely some other chap, who did actually earn the TANG position on his own merit, was denied to make room for the plate of dimson that is george Wastrel bush.
Unlike Chesley Sullenberger, W did not become a pilot to serve his country. He did it to save his ass from actually having to go into battle. His family pulled strings to make him appear like a pilot while protecting him from any requirement to serve his country.
Unlike Chesley Sullenberger, W did not become anything. He was propped up by chums of the family and allowed business failure after business failure. If he had his own feet to stand on, he never found or used them.
Chesley Sullenberger is a real pilot. He actually served our nation in the military.Seems like he paid attention, learned well. He went to work in a profession where performance is everything, and failure to preform well costs lives in split seconds. Seems he also took the concept of DUTY seriously. On January 15 he showed what real heroes do. It was a most refreshing reminder of the possibilities.
george Wastrel bush wanted his 15 minutes last evening. He wanted to have the last word. He got upstaged by a miracle that was no real miracle but rather a real pilot performing at the very height of that profession. He got upstaged by every boat captain and crew, every EMT, every dispatcher who responded so fast and so well to the potentially horrible event of that plane coming down in water. He got upstaged by human beings reacting exceedingly well, and in keeping with their diligent training, to a situation not many would have ever considered.
Nobody sent any of the airline crew or first responders a PDB suggesting they should be watchful of a flock of geese sending metal tube full of people falling into the Hudson River on January 15 of 2009. Nobody spelled it all out for them with all the details Condi Rice would have needed. Nobody held their hands and led them to the appropriate actions. They responded to a situation with the resources of their various disciplines. They applied themselves to a situation. They did not make excuses.
Chesley Sullenberger was just doing the job he obviously takes very seriously. He did it in a manner which will be studied for years. The passengers of US Airways Flight 1549 also performed to perfection. They got out in an orderly manner, did it very quickly (probably partly due to the professional guidance of flight attendants who must have been the essence of grace under fire) and they did it as a people, not as individuals out to save themselves. Crews and support personnel of those rescue crafts acted swiftly and saw to the follow-through. They earned the banner Mission Accomplished. I hope we read the names of each and every one who worked together to do the nearly impossible.
The miracle is the illustration we all witnessed:
- Applied skill, diligent training and drills
- Calm response to real situation
- Acting for the greater good instead of panicked response to save ones self and damn the rest
- Taking a sure bet disaster and MacGyvering it into unlikely triumph.
We have a new President coming into office within but a few hours. After 8 years of contrived and convoluted actions against the greater good, we have a chance at getting the victims of W out of danger, getting the job done, keeping things afloat until everyone is safe. But it will take more than just a competent captain performing brilliantly. It will take all hands pulling together, calmly, diligently, for the greater good and without thoughts of self interests prevailing over the interests of everybody involved.
It will take all of us working very hard TOGETHER to keep the potential wreck that is America-on-the-brink from becoming an empty hulk sinking into the cold, dark abyss of history.
Captain Sullenberger pulled off an amazing feat. Many others jumped in to help him see it through. They turned a near-certain disaster into just a weird sort of scenic river cruise.
The miracle is the timing. We got the illustration of what is possible right when we needed it most, when it was likely to fit into our heads like an easy to recall poem.
Maybe it was an omen, a sign. For sure, it was an object lesson: If we use skill, employ our better angels and still our baser impulses, we can keep America afloat and get everyone out of the cold.
