Repairing Our World with Flight 5191

I had planned to say something totally different, and in a similarly different tone, about the governor’s merit hiring settlement.

But I write this as I pray for the family and friends of loved ones lost on flight 5191, grateful that my itinerary called instead for the next flight through Cincinnati, on whose runway I now sit. My last trip was through Atlanta so I could just as easily have been among the dead or dying this ill-fated morning.

While I worried about who I may know aboard 5191 I realized that a co-worker may yet be on board and hoped beyond hope that he took a later flight instead (I later learned that he did).

I then wondered why the gates of our emotion should hinge so surely on our personal connections with those who pass on. After all, we are all brothers and sisters, and each life is equally precious. So while it is understandable that we feel more strongly about those who are close to us, familiarity is no pre-requisite for human empathy.

Thus does another catastrophe put in perspective the supposed hot issues of today, unmasking the truly trivial nature of our daily dramas. In this light the hiring debacle pales in importance.

This is to not to excuse either official mis-conduct or the all too prevalent political penchant for prioritizing greedy self-interest over our greater public interest. Rather it is to use this tragedy to direct our steps up a higher path, individually, and collectively.

Like 9/11 and hurricane Katrina, flight 5191 builds within our breasts a heartfelt human compassion--for the dead, for the grieving, and for each other. It may also leave us with a feeling of remorse as we perhaps regret the opportunities now forever lost to show our love, appreciation or kindly word to one we will never see again.

I recalled something I once heard about how much better our world would be were we to treat each other as if our next time together would be our last. As if we or they may be on the next flight 5191.

And it is by remembering this through all levels our community that we will repair our broken world.

Rfd 8/27/06