Upon reading everyone's first blogs, A Plane Ride to Remember struck me differently. It reminded me of my own thoughts and imagination on the perspectives of those trapped in the hijacked planes and the people’s lives they left behind. From a documentary I saw a couple weeks ago, there was an interview with a fiancee who never got married. The reason: her long-distant fiance was on one of the planes that hit the World Trade Center. Who would have ever thought that such an unnatural incident would occur? Now coming from a similar long-distant situation, I thought about what ran through this supposedly soon-to-be-wife. All of their plans for the future and all their time invested in each other was left with nothing accomplished.
I’m sure there were likely many other personal situations that could have been as tragic (though the whole thing is tragic in itself). Think for a moment: There’s likely that father out there left to take care of three young children. There’s likely those young twins left without a mother and a father. There’s likely that only son who was soon to carry on the family name. There’s that grandmother who was soon to be back together with her beloved husband. There’s that dream of being back together again with those loved ones. There’s always that.
Now, let’s take a step back and account for the last thoughts of the people inside the plane. At the last few moments when they realized something was tragically wrong, I imagine a husband frantically calling for his wife on the cell phone. “I love you. I love you so much.” Then, the line goes dead without even a response from the wife yet. A teenage passenger is unaware of what is going on. He is sitting and simply listening to his iPod (volume blasted of course). The pilot is unable to gain control of the plane. His own life is in danger. He promised his wife he would be home for dinner. There’s bound to be endless stories and countless if-I-only-knews.
Each passenger had their own story; their own thoughts. There were feelings of regret, guilt, sadness, and fear. I have almost no doubt that if they could turn back time and make things right, everyone would. Yet, there is a lesson to be learned here…a personal one. From the people that were lost, we regret over things we should have rightfully said and done for them. We feel guilty of not being better fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers…human beings. However, we know that time is irreversible and we can only look forward and use these events to change our course of life. We can treat those we have here now better and with more compassion. By this, we can put aside the previous regret and guilt for what we should have done and use this tragic event as positive reconstruction. Though this should not be considered as a needed catastrophe, we form it as a way to better ourselves and use it as a way pay back what we owe to the lives lost.
-Karl Abordo
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