American spirit shines

Aboard United Flight 93, even as terrorists threatened their lives, a handful of ordinary Americans took action. In an account pieced together from cell phone calls to family members, several passengers decided they weren't willing to be a missile aimed at thousands of Americans on the ground.\nThey did something -- we'll probably never know exactly what -- to disrupt the hijackers' plans. It seems that at least three men aboard the jet rushed the hijackers in the cockpit. Just minutes after passenger Thomas Burnett Jr. told his wife about the plot, the plane crashed into the rolling green hills of Somerset County, Pa.\nOf the four hijacked planes, three of them killed people on the ground; United Flight 93 did not. Those brave Americans gave their lives to prevent the deaths of others they had never known. National law enforcement officials have speculated that they might have even saved the White House.\n During the next few days, thousands of rescue workers converged on the sites of the plane crashes at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Firefighters worked tirelessly in 24-hour shifts to save the 5,735 people missing in the airplane crashes and in the building collapses. Many of those first on the scene to help at the World Trade Center perished in the collapse. \nSo many people showed up to help dig that the city had to start turning them away.\nNew York Fire Department chaplain Mychal Judge was administering the last rites to another firefighter when he was struck by debris. As the chaplain lay dying, another firefighter tried to administer the last rites. Although he was a layman, he still tried to help him, unsure of whether it was appropriate. \nLater when he saw Edward Egan, the archbishop of New York, the firefighter told Egan he wasn't sure if he'd done the right thing. "God will understand," Egan replied, later explaining to CNN that the disaster had created a spirit of unity in a city famous for its disunity.\nAt the Pentagon, firefighters whose truck had been destroyed by the fire put out spot fires and helped employees through burnt-out windows. In New York, hundreds of doctors lined up outside of hospitals waiting for patients that weren't coming. \nAcross the country, hundreds of thousands of people flocked to give blood at Red Cross donation centers. Millions of dollars of donations have been pledged. The Lilly Endowment, based in Indianapolis, donated an unrivaled $30 million to the relief effort.\nOffice buildings and businesses throughout Manhattan donated office space and assistance to get businesses up and running again. \nThe passengers on Flight 93, the firefighters and policemen in New York and Washington and the millions of Americans who volunteered to help are heroes. \nIn a way, the terrorists succeeded in their mission because they managed to alter our daily lives. But in a larger sense they failed. Their goal was to shatter our spirits and prove that our way of life is inferior. Instead, they allowed the best of America to shine through.\nThroughout all of the death and the unimaginable ruin, everyday Americans have shown a caring and a love for their fellow human beings. They have given from the heart and even sacrificed their lives. \nThat is true heroism, and that is the true face of America.