Today is that day again.

Three years since that fateful day, that beautiful morning when the sky was crystal clear, the temperature just so, a total contrast to what would later unfold.

As it recedes, it has less impact which is a sign of healing - which is good. Something that should never be forgotten but, simultaneously something which shouldn't prevent us from moving forward.

While much of the focus is on Ground Zero and the Pentagon and the destruction in both places, the one thing that stands out in my mind is the sacrifice made by a group of ordinary Americans.

(9:47 a.m.): On Flight 93, Jeremy Glick is still on the phone with his wife Lyz. He tells her that the passengers are taking a vote if they should try to take over the plane or not. [About the same time as a different phone call, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 10/28/01 , Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 10/28/01 (B) ] He later says that all the men on the plane have voted to attack the hijackers. [No time marker, Toronto Sun, 9/16/01 ] When asked about weapons, he says they don't have guns, just knives. His wife Lyz got the impression from him that the hijacker standing nearby claiming to hold the bomb would be easy to overwhelm. [Among the Heroes,
by Jere Longman, 8/02, p. 153-154]

When faced with the realization that they were confronting a situation which would cost them their lives, this disparate group found the one thing which united them. Different creeds, faiths, ethnicity but bound together by the fact that they were Americans, they voted about what course of action they would take and they chose to sacrifice themselves so their fellow citizens would be spared. Ordinary men and women who made a choice to stand and fight.

9:54 a.m.: Tom Burnett calls his wife Deena for the fourth and last time. In early reports of this call, he says, “I know we're all going to die. There's three of us who are going to do something about it.” [No time marker, Toronto Sun, 9/16/01 , no time marker, Boston Globe, 11/23/01 ] However, in a later and much more complete account, he sounds much more upbeat. “It's up to us. I think we can do it.” “Don't worry, we're going to do something.” He specifically mentions they plan to regain control of the airplane over a rural area. [9:54, “again Deena noted the time,” Among the Heroes, by Jere Longman, 8/02, p. 118]

Maybe I’m a cornball but, I’d like to think that this is what it means for us to be Americans. When faced with plane crashes, blackouts or horrible catastrophes we rise to the occasion and help the people around us putting aside whatever divides us and treating each other the way we should treat each other every day.

If there is one lesson we can take with us from that horrible day three years ago let it be that.