[Peace] Why we call him/her Captain - fwd

[John Wason]

  This is kinda nice.  It was forwarded to me by a friend.  Just thought I'd
share it.

  John

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  A note from a traveler: 

  "I just wanted to drop you all a note and let you know that 
  I arrived safe and sound into Dulles Airport tonight [9/15] 
  at about 6:00. It was an interesting flight. 

  The airport in Denver was almost spooky, it was so empty 
  and quiet. No one was in line for the security check point 
  when I got there so that went fairly quickly, just x-ray of 
  my bags and then a chemical test to be sure nothing 
  explosive was on them. 

  Then I waited 2 1/2 hours to board the plane. What happened 
  after we boarded was interesting and thought I would share 
  it with you. 

  The pilot/captain came on the loudspeaker after the doors 
  were closed. His speech went like this: 
  First I want to thank you for being brave enough to fly 
  today. The doors are now closed and we have no help from 
  the outside for any problems that might occur inside this 
  plane. As you could tell when you checked in, the 
  government has made some changes to increase security in 
  the airports. 

  They have not, however, made any rules about what happens 
  after those doors close. Until they do that, we have made 
  our own rules and I want to share them with you. Once 
  those doors close, we only have each other. 

  The security has taken care of a threat like guns with all 
  of the increased scanning, etc. Then we have the supposed 
  bomb. If you have a bomb, there is no need to tell me about 
  it, or anyone else on this plane; you are already in 
  control. So, for this flight, there are no bombs that 
  exist on this plane. 

  Now, the threats that are left are things like plastics, 
  wood knives, and other weapons that can be made or things 
  like that which can be used as weapons. 

  Here is our plan and our rules. If someone or several 
  people stand up and say they are hijacking this plane, I 
  want you all to stand up together. Then take whatever you 
  have available to you and throw it at them. Throw it at 
  their faces and heads so they will have to raise their 
  hands to protect themselves. 

  The very best protection you have against knives are the 
  pillows and blankets. Whoever is close to these people 
  should then try to get a blanket over their head--then 
  they won't be able to see. Once that is done, get them 
  down and keep them there. Do not let them up. I will 
  then land the plane at the closest place and we WILL 
  take care of them. 

  After all, there are usually only a few of them and we 
  are 200+ strong! We will not allow them to take over 
  this plane. 

  I find it interesting that the US Constitution begins 
  with the words "We, the people"--that's who we are, THE 
  people and we will not be defeated. 

  With that, the passengers on the plane all began to 
  applaud, people had tears in their eyes, and we began 
  the trip toward the runway. 

  The flight attendant then began the safety speech. One 
  of the things she said is that we are all so busy and 
  live our lives at such a fast pace. She asked that 
  everyone turn to their neighbors on either side and 
  introduce themselves, tell each other something about 
  your families and children, show pictures, whatever. 
  She said "for today, we consider you family. We will 
  treat you as such and ask that you do the same with us." 

  Throughout the flight we learned that for the crew, 
  this was their first flight since Tuesday's tragedies. 
  It was a day that everyone leaned on each other and 
  together everyone was stronger than any one person 
  alone. It was quite an experience. 

  You can imagine the feeling when that plane touched 
  down at Dulles and we heard "welcome to Washington 
  Dulles Airport, where the local time is 5:40". Again, 
  the cabin was filled with applause. 

  Last night I saw a program with college students 
  where one of them said that at their campus there are 
  no more hyphenated titles, i.e., African-American, 
  etc., everyone is just an American. No one will ever 
  be able to take that pride away from us." 

  A Proud American, 
  Ken