Common Courage


As the nation remembers the tragedy of September 11th, I found it appropiate that this week the heroes of Flight 93 will soon have a memorial of thier own.

This story is well known, a group of passengers, rallying around the cry of "Let's Roll", managed to overpower the hijackers and crash their plane in an abandoned field. Where the flight was headed is unknown; I've heard the White House, The Capitol, Three Mile Island, all as potential targets.

For me this story hit home when it was revealed that one of the passengers was a national Judo champion. I am a student of Aikido, which shares a common heritage with Judo, so I felt at some level I had lost one of my own. The fact that these passengers also showed the spirit of the warrior as well gave me a link.

But as an opponent of war and empire, I see another thing in common. Those passengers had to overcome fear. They likely knew what had happened in New York City and Washington DC, and saw what was happening in the sky over Somerset PA. But they steeled their resolve and did what they needed to do.

That same fear exists today in America. Assisted by a "Sheepdog" media, Bush and the "war party" have mananged to manipulate fear to keep themselves in power, attack civil liberties, and make to many the act of criticizing the government seem "unpatriotic".

But over the last four years, more and more people have fought back against this fear. Much like those passengers, we too have gathered strength and supporters. We have begun to build a Media, and joined into a movement.

We still have much to do. Next November will be a chance to break this web of fear and maybe take a step closer to stopping this country from being run into the ground.

Four years ago, a group of strangers said "Let's Roll", today I say to those who stand against war, fear, and empire:

Keep On Rollin'