 Wednesday, 11 September 2002
 Dave Barry on flight 93
Dave Barry writes eloquently on the site of Flight 93's impact, drawing parallels to Gettysburg. Long and worth reading all of:
On hallowed ground [Miami Herald via Metafilter]
One of the most heartrending quotes in "Among the Heroes" is from Deena Burnett, the widow of Flight 93 passenger Tom Burnett ... "In the beginning, everyone asked, 'Aren't you proud of him? Aren't you happy that he's a hero?' I thought, my goodness, the first thing you have to understand is, I'm just trying to put one foot in front of the other. For my husband to be anyone's hero ... I'd much prefer him to be here with me."
So we need to remember this: The heroes of Flight 93 were people on a plane. Their glory is being paid for, day after day, by grief. Tom Burnett does not belong to the nation. He is, first and foremost, Deena Burnett's husband, and the father of their three daughters. Any effort we make to claim him as ours is an affront to those who loved him, those he loved. He is not ours.
...And so in a few years, when grass grows once again over the place where Flight 93 hit the ground, when the "X"s have faded from the hemlocks, there will be a memorial here, an official, permanent memorial to the heroes of Flight 93. It will be dedicated in a somber and dignified ceremony, and people will make speeches. Somebody -- bet on it -- will quote the Gettysburg Address, the part about giving the last full measure of devotion. The speeches will be moving, but they will also prove Lincoln's point, that the words of the living can add nothing to the deeds of the dead.
QOTD Bob Hillman
Bob Hillman, "World Trade Center", from the Vigil CD:
I saw the Trade Center fall on TV, fall on TV
I turned it on coincidentally
It happened to you like it happened to me
I saw the Trade Center fall on TV
I see them falling again and again, falling again
Over nine hundred times through the long weekend
Somewhere inside was a friend of a friend
I see them falling again and again
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