Do Something… Do Something Good

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Tuesday, September 11, 2001 began like any other day. People woke up, ate breakfast, went to work, brought their kids to school and boarded planes. Some were traveling for business, some for pleasure and some to visit family or friends. It was just another ordinary day… until it wasn’t.

Four California-bound planes departing from the eastern states were hijacked in a heinous attack on Americans. The Islamic terror group, al Qaeda, took immediate credit for orchestrating the coordinated attack under the leadership of Osama bin Laden. Terrorists crashed American Flight 11 and United Flight 175 into Manhattan’s World Trade Center towers. The third plane, American Flight 77, was flown into the Pentagon. Plans for the fourth plane, United Flight 93, intended for a target in Washington, D.C. were foiled when passengers overtook the hijackers, gained control of the plane and crashed it into the ground in an empty field near Sharksville, Pennsylvania.

Image Credit:tomburnettfoundation.org

 

One can only speculate how many lives were saved by the passengers on Flight 93. It is said they were ordinary people, just like you and me, who simply chose to do something. Tom Burnett was one of those people. “Don’t worry,” he told his wife Deena the last time he ever spoke to her, “we’re going to do something.” And they did.

**Transcript of Tom’s Last Calls to his wife, Deena, from aboard Flight 93

6:27 a.m.( pacific time) First cell phone call from Tom to Deena
Deena: Hello
Tom: Deena
Deena: Tom, are you O.K.?
Tom: No, I’m not. I’m on an airplane that has been hijacked.
Deena: Hijacked?
Tom: Yes, They just knifed a guy.
Deena: A passenger?
Tom: Yes.
Deena: Where are you? Are you in the air?
Tom: Yes, yes, just listen. Our airplane has been hijacked. It’s United Flight 93 from Newark to San Francisco. We are in the air. The hijackers have already knifed a guy, one of them has a gun, they are telling us there is a bomb on board, please call the authorities.

He hung up.

6:31 Deena calls 911

6:34 The phone rang in on call waiting, Tom’s second cell phone call.
Deena: Hello
Tom: They’re in the cockpit. The guy they knifed is dead.
Deena: He’s dead?
Tom: Yes. I tried to help him, but I couldn’t get a pulse.
Deena: Tom, they are hijacking planes all up and down the east coast. They are taking them and hitting designated targets. They’ve already hit both towers of the World Trade Center.
Tom: They’re talking about crashing this plane. (a pause) Oh my God. It’s a suicide mission…(he then tells people sitting around him)
Deena: Who are you talking to?
Tom: My seatmate. Do you know which airline is involved?
Deena: No, they don’t know if they’re commercial airlines or not. The newsreporters are speculating cargo planes, private planes and commercial. No one knows.
Tom: How many planes are there?
Deena: They’re not sure, at least three. Maybe more.
Tom: O.K….O.K….Do you know who is involved?
Deena: No.
Tom: We’re turning back toward New York. We’re going back to the World Trade Center. No, wait, we’re turning back the other way. We’re going south.
Deena: What do you see?
Tom: Just a minute, I’m looking. I don’t see anything, we’re over a rural area. It’s just fields. I’ve gotta go.
He hung up.

6:45 a.m. Third cell phone call from Tom to Deena
Tom: Deena
Deena: Tom, you’re O.K. (At this point, Deena has said she thought he had just survived the Pentagon plane crash).
Tom: No, I’m not.
Deena: They just hit the Pentagon.
Tom: (tells people sitting around him They just hit the Pentagon.)
Tom: O.K….O.K. What else can you tell me?
Deena: They think five airplanes have been hijacked. One is still on the ground. They believe all of them are commercial planes. I haven’t heard them say which airline, but all of them have originated on the east coast.
Tom: Do you know who is involved?
Deena: No
Tom: What is the probability of their having a bomb on board? I don’t think they have one. I think they’re just telling us that for crowd control.
Deena: A plane can survive a bomb if it’s in the right place.
Tom: Did you call the authorities?
Deena: Yes, they didn’t know anything about your plane.
Tom: They’re talking about crashing this plane into the ground. We have to do something. I’m putting a plan together.
Deena: Who’s helping you?
Tom: Different people. Several people. There’s a group of us. Don’t worry. I’ll call you back.

6:54 a.m. Fourth cell phone call to Tom to Deena
Deena: Tom?
Tom: Hi. Anything new?
Deena: No
Tom: Where are the kids?
Deena: They’re fine. They’re sitting at the table having breakfast. They’re asking to talk to you.
Tom: Tell them I’ll talk to them later
Deena: I called your parents. They know your plane has been hijacked.
Tom: Oh…you shouldn’t have worried them. How are they doing?
Deena: They’re O.K.. Mary and Martha are with them.
Tom: Good. (a long quiet pause) We’re waiting until we’re over a rural area. We’re going to take back the airplane.
Deena: No! Sit down, be still, be quiet, and don’t draw attention to yourself! (The exact words taught to me by Delta Airlines Flight Attendant Training).
Tom: Deena! If they’re going to crash this plane into the ground, we’re going to have do something!
Deena: What about the authorities?
Tom: We can’t wait for the authorities. I don’t know what they could do anyway.
It’s up to us. I think we can do it.
Deena: What do you want me to do?
Tom: Pray, Deena, just pray.
Deena: (after a long pause) I love you.
Tom: Don’t worry, we’re going to do something.
He hung up

It is said the passengers on Flight 93, Tom Burnett, Welles Remy Crowther, the firefighters, police officers, rescue workers, and so many who sacrificed themselves to save others on that fateful day were ordinary people, just like you and me… until they weren’t. They each chose to do something… something extraordinary. Fortunately, most of us will never be confronted with having to make the sort of choices those selfless heroes made on September 11, 2001. Still, we all are called to do something to make the world a better place, even if it’s only in our own small corner of it. Today seems like a good day to remember we all have a mission to do something…  something good.

#NeverForget  #DoSomething  #DoSomethingGood  #GodBlessTheUSA

**(Transcript from http://www.tomburnettfoundation.org/transcript.html)