This IS America!
Southwest Flight 1380 nearly crashed to the ground and killed over 140 people.
The fact that it did not is a testament to the efforts of those doing their jobs to the best of their abilities.
The pilots and the crew did their very best to get the plane to the ground safely, but tragically a young woman lost her life.
Jennifer Riordan was sitting near the window that broke, and she suffered blunt force trauma that killed her.
The America part of it, for me, was about the people who jumped up and tried their very best to keep the wife and mother of two alive.
They tried to keep her from leaving the plane, they tried to cover the hole, they attempted CPR for a long, long while once they could.
In the writing of the blog, and in being a caring American over the last couple of years, I have been struck dumbfounded by the loss of civility, by the absolute nastiness, by the perceived racism...
...it’s easy to get down about all of it.
Yet, there have been slivers of hope.
I see it every day. There are millions of Americans who get out of bed and bring it every single day. It’s easy to mail things in a time or two, but you have to do your job day in and day out.
Tammie Jo Shults is the pilot who mentioned that:
“I was just doing my job.”
I have a job that depends upon accuracy and showing up every day. My job takes place at specific job sites and most of the time those jobs end safely and new ones begin.
I write thousands of reports every year...
...most of them are not heavily scrutinized.
Every once in a sad while, one of my reports, becomes part of an investigation...
...and I am mindful of that every day.
“You can’t be sloppy. You have to be accurate.”
I preach that to the guys who work with me and they must think I’m crazy, but your job is your job and you have to do it every day, over and over...
...professionally.
Because you never know...
...and I’m not landing a plane anytime soon, but it’s the mindset.
You know what will keep America great?
Remembering that we are here in service of others, and with others, and that we will help, when we can to assist others.
That’s what America was built on.
There are still enough stories out there to give all of us hope.
There was an awful lot of emotion for the woman who lost her life...
...that empathy is what we need to feel again.
That is America.
We gotta’ Get back there more consistently.
The fact that it did not is a testament to the efforts of those doing their jobs to the best of their abilities.
The pilots and the crew did their very best to get the plane to the ground safely, but tragically a young woman lost her life.
Jennifer Riordan was sitting near the window that broke, and she suffered blunt force trauma that killed her.
The America part of it, for me, was about the people who jumped up and tried their very best to keep the wife and mother of two alive.
They tried to keep her from leaving the plane, they tried to cover the hole, they attempted CPR for a long, long while once they could.
In the writing of the blog, and in being a caring American over the last couple of years, I have been struck dumbfounded by the loss of civility, by the absolute nastiness, by the perceived racism...
...it’s easy to get down about all of it.
Yet, there have been slivers of hope.
I see it every day. There are millions of Americans who get out of bed and bring it every single day. It’s easy to mail things in a time or two, but you have to do your job day in and day out.
Tammie Jo Shults is the pilot who mentioned that:
“I was just doing my job.”
I have a job that depends upon accuracy and showing up every day. My job takes place at specific job sites and most of the time those jobs end safely and new ones begin.
I write thousands of reports every year...
...most of them are not heavily scrutinized.
Every once in a sad while, one of my reports, becomes part of an investigation...
...and I am mindful of that every day.
“You can’t be sloppy. You have to be accurate.”
I preach that to the guys who work with me and they must think I’m crazy, but your job is your job and you have to do it every day, over and over...
...professionally.
Because you never know...
...and I’m not landing a plane anytime soon, but it’s the mindset.
You know what will keep America great?
Remembering that we are here in service of others, and with others, and that we will help, when we can to assist others.
That’s what America was built on.
There are still enough stories out there to give all of us hope.
There was an awful lot of emotion for the woman who lost her life...
...that empathy is what we need to feel again.
That is America.
We gotta’ Get back there more consistently.
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