Remember With Character

"Are you guys ready? Let's Roll"

• Todd Beamer
  

Remember With Character

Flight 93 had left Newark, N.J., at 8 a.m. Tuesday, 11 September 2001 bound for San Francisco. While I wasn't on the flight, I remember the day well. I'm sure you do too.

I was in a deep sleep in an unfamiliar bed when my phone let off a piercing ring awakening me. When I answered, I heard a familiar voice. "Where are you?" my sister asked.

"I don't know." I replied.

"No. Wait a minute. I'm in Modesto." I mumbled.

I had traveled the entire day on the 10^th just to get there. First it was by shuttle, then it was by plane, finally I arrived in a rental car. I traveled a lot in those days and often forgot what town I was in until I got out of bed and looked at my schedule.

I was beginning to wake up. I wasn't feeling well so I had slept in. It was a little after 7 a.m. on the West Coast. I knew now that my office in New York would be calling me any minute so it was clear that I had to get rolling with the day.

"Have you seen the news?" My sister brought me back to the moment.

"No. Why?" I answered.

"You better turn on the T.V." She said.

I did. I watched as much of the landscape around my office was in flames. I began to call my office. Needless to say, it was in vain. My life was changed forever.

My life is completely different now. Not just in what I do for a living, but in a lot of other ways too. I've traded a landscape of airplanes and buildings scraping the sky for a more pastoral setting. But, I'll never forget that day and the feelings I had then. My neighbors haven't forgotten either.

That's why we all gathered on Saturday to put a new mark on the day we refer to as "Patriot Day." We all participated in a "Day of Service." As I stood on the side of the road at the appointed time I marveled at everyone as they came with their shovels, rakes, chain saws, tractors, hammers and gloves. We weren't just a few. We were a neighborhood army out to make a difference for each other. It was a living display of hope, faith and charity.

We all worked together and then we all cleaned ourselves up and had a community dinner. We took time to get to know each other a little better, help each other and to remember.

At one moment I remembered how Todd Beamer demonstrated the way he lived by the way he died; helping to lead a takeover by passengers on United Airlines Flight 93, which crashed Tuesday, 11 September 2001 in Somerset County. It was the fourth plane to go down in that day's terrorist attacks.

"Just knowing that when the crisis came up he maintained the same character we all knew, it's a testament to what real faith means." Todd's wife Lisa once said.

That's the character we were emulating on our day of service. I was sitting in a small mountain valley with green grass tickling my toes, surrounded by my neighbors and I smiled when I heard Todd's words in my mind "Are you guys ready? Let's roll!"

Yes! I said to myself as I viewed what we were doing together. We're rolling forward to show increased love and hope to everyone around us. We're rolling forward to make our community a stronger, better place to live, one person at a time. We're rolling forward showing faith that by joining together we can live a better life by being charitable.

Are you guys ready? Let's roll!