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Take A Cue From Heroes: "Let's Roll!"

Guest post by: Michael Hume

Article Overview: Like nearly all Americans, I was acutely aware yesterday of the ten-year anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on our country. I watched some documentaries, spent some time with family members with whom I'd spent the day ten years ago... and watched again the haunting movie which depicts the heroic actions of passengers on "United 93" during that now-long-ago tragedy....

Take A Cue From Heroes: "Let's Roll!"

Passengers On 9/11 Showed True Inspirational Leadership Like nearly all Americans, I was acutely aware yesterday of the ten-year anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on our country. I watched some documentaries, spent some time with family members with whom I'd spent the day ten years ago... and watched again the haunting movie which depicts the heroic actions of passengers on "United 93" during that now-long-ago tragedy.

No one alive knows with certainty what happened on that flight, the only one of the hijackers' flying missiles that crashed (in a field in Pennsylvania) before it could reach its intended target. But the movie makes a pretty good guess. If you haven't seen it, you should watch it, and decide for yourself if it's a plausible account. I think it's close enough.

United 93 was the last of the four planes to be hijacked by Islamic terrorists on September 11, 2001. By the time the hijackers had taken control of the plane, the other three terrorist cells had already accomplished their nefarious missions... and, thanks to air phones and cell phones, the passengers on Flight 93 heard about it. They quickly realized two horrible truths: they were about to die, and what they had the courage to do in their final minutes of life was all that stood between the terrorists and another target.

That target, we now know, was the U.S. Capitol building. That building stands undamaged today because of the heroes on Flight 93 who made a desperate plan to thwart the terrorists and then had the guts to carry it out. "Let's roll," one of them famously said... and within a handful of minutes, they and their tormentors were all gone from this Earth.

As I watched the chilling conclusion of the movie, I found my mind wandering back to other images I'd seen - pictures of the U.S. Capitol, still unfinished during the Civil War, still without a dome. Through the worst time in our nation's history, while we were fighting our bloodiest war to finally decide that America would truly be the land of the free, they were continuing to build our national capitol building. So it's fitting that another dark time in our history should spawn the sort of heroes who'd give their lives to save that building, and the people in it.

Would you have the courage to try to smash a cockpit door with a beverage cart? Would you have the guts to climb over the mess while terrorists were slashing at you with knives? Would you have whatever it takes to try to wrestle a determined enemy out of the pilot's seat, only then to try to figure out how to land a plane that was hurtling toward the ground at break-neck speed?

Here's the good news: you don't have to. To honor the memory of all the heroes who've left you this land of the free, you just need the courage to keep building America. Get up every morning and go to work. Start a business. Make some investments... see if you can create some jobs yourself. As of today, you're still free to do those things. And that's to the credit of every American hero, from the musket-toting Union soldier at Antietam to the handful of ordinary folks who just got on the wrong plane on that dreadful day ten years ago.

America is a nation of heroes and entrepreneurs, not cowards and victims. Our enemies drastically misunderstood that fact ten years ago, and they still misunderstand it today. Sure, our nation does have victim-types, just like every other nation and culture on Earth. But what makes America different is that the victims are not in charge. Not yet, not today. The average American citizen has a hero inside who's able to be a beacon of freedom to neighbors, communities, and the whole world.

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Article Tags: entrepreneurship, health wealth and happiness, inspirational leadership, personal responsibility



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