Guts

I've talked about guts before. Mostly in my Harry Potter post. Heroes have guts. However, they don't always know that about themselves beforehand. Others may not know it about them either.

I was watching a new show about 9/11 on National Geographic TV the other day. It was an excellent program. I was fairly impressed. Of course, I missed the first hour, but what I saw was good!

The format took us through the whole morning, step by step. The result of this (or rather, one of the results of this) was that I learned more about the people on the plane that went down in PA than I ever had before. The widows of two of the men were interviewed and talked about those final conversations. I knew that people from that plane had called their loved ones, that they had told their loved ones what was going on and that they were going to attack the hijackers.

I did not know how long the one man was on the phone with his wife. I did not know that he didn't hang up before the attack, instead he just laid the phone down so that those on the other end could hear some of what went on. I did not know that the one man told his wife to make sure that as his infant daughter grows up, she knows how much her daddy loved her.

Those men and women on that flight had guts. Whether they knew that when their flight took off that day, I do not know. But not just everyone has it in them to do what those people did that day. And do not ever forget that they did it for us. They didn't just save the Capital Building that day. They saved each and every one of us.

Would you be able to do what they did? I don't know if I would. I don't know if I have guts, if I'm a hero. But then, until tested, does anyone really know? I suspect not.

And do not forget these women, these widows of heroes, these mothers of fatherless children. I was impressed with their composure. Granted it didn't happen yesterday. But I'm sure it's something that will stick with them forever as highly emotional. They were very well spoken about that horrible day, very calm and collected as they related the events of that morning. These women, too, have guts. They've carried on.