My Heroes

Major Heather Penney. Colonel Marc Sasseville. Do you know either of these people? You should if you don’t. These were the two fighter pilots who took off from Andrews Air Force Base on September 11, 2001 to find and if necessary take down what later would be known as Flight 93, the other airliner that was still in the air and heading for Washington D.C. that day.
The only thing is, they took off in jets that were unarmed. They didn’t have time to arm them, and didn’t have any that were already armed at the time. So the two pilots made the decision that one would ram the cockpit and the other would ram the tail section in order to assure the flight did not complete its mission.
Major Penney stated that she would essentially be a Kamikaze pilot in order to complete her mission. The interviewer pressed her and asked her specifically if she was prepared to sacrifice her life in order to take down the plane. She looked at him and only said, “Of course.” Nothing else.
She’s not the only hero of that day, or of other days for that matter. The world is filled with heroes that never make it to C Span, MSNBC, or the New York Times. She, however, epitomizes the concept of hero.
There are knuckleheads on the Internet that are downplaying or discounting her story. Let them. Feel sorry for them. They need to get a life and get a grasp on reality. People really do things that are sacrificial and beneficial to society. People really consider others more important than themselves. People really know what it means to be a human being.
Ms. Penney said her daughters do not yet know her story. They are relatively young, and I understand why they don’t fully know yet. But one day, they should know. They should hear of their mother’s sacrifices, her willingness to go all the way, to assure the safety of hundreds of people at the risk of her own life. They need to know what their mother is made of and that they too have within them what it takes to follow in her footsteps.
This is for all of the Heather Penneys and Mark Sassevilles. Thank you so much. You are my heroes.

(By the way, if you want to see the entire interview, go to C Span's website and download it.)