Friday, April 28, 2006

Stand and never yield!



So many heros on that day. I'm seeing "United 93" today at 12:45 PM. I'll see it alone. I think it'll be easier to hide my tears.... and my anger..... and my resolve.

BLACKFIVE: Never Yield: "We should never forget the heroism of September 11th.
Never yield.
I'm going to experience United 93 tomorrow. I've been to Dachau, Auschwitz and Buchenwald. I've been to the cliffs of Point du Hoc where the Rangers climbed to begin the end of the Nazis. I've walked the battlegrounds of the Bulge, Gettysburg, Ardennes, Bunker Hill, the Alamo, and Massada. Not all places were last stands, but they certainly were places of defiance and courage. Someday, I'll make a trip out to a field in Pennsylvania...
I don't imagine that I'll want to fly too soon after seeing United 93. I don't imagine that I'll feel better for awhile after either...
However, I'm glad that Hollywood finally made a movie about Flight 93. Are they making a buck off of my cathartic reaction? Sure. But I've got a need to go see this movie. So do many of you. One of my favorite pubs in Chicago had a plaque for Todd Beamer right by the front door. Customers, mostly firefighters and cops, would touch it gently as they entered and exited. It said 'Let's Roll.'
How many of you have wondered if you'd have had the courage of the passengers of Flight 93? I know I have thought about it....

Now, Hollywood needs to get off their dead asses and make one about Col. (ret) Rick Rescorla. He saved 2,700 hundred people on September 11th - a friend among them. My little brother was on the phone with his Morgan trading partner when they were evacuated. For two days, we didn't know that he made it out of the building...because of Rescorla.
One of the last things that Morgan employees heard as they were evacuated was Rick singing:
Men of Cornwall stand ye steady;
It cannot be ever said ye
for the battle were not ready;
Stand and never yield!
So, in order to remember the heroism on September 11th, I'm going to see United 93 tomorrow.
Never forget, stand and never yield.

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