Whether you are

a hero or not…

How touching to see the interview with Captain Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger and hear him recount the landing of Flight 1549. By his expertise in emergency procedures he was able to land his airplane safely on the Hudson River. He had only about three minutes to save the lives of 155 people.

He reminds me of other people I have known who were also calm and decisive when dealing with their life's experiences.

No time for pity or whining or complaining.

I got to wondering how some of the rest of us would react in stressful situations or how we presently handled the emergencies we encountered… no matter how insignificant they may be compared to Flight 1549.

And what if we didn't come out of them as successfully?

Perhaps these others didn't have the training to know what to do… or their hands slid across the controls and unknowingly nudged the wrong lever… or a malfunction in the electronic system proved to be a problem they couldn't fix.

If these folks live, do they go over their reactions again and again to see if they could have done something differently? Even Captain Sully revealed that he did this the first few nights after his flight. But even if anyone could have done it another way, they couldn't change it now.

Thoughts like these do not diminish the heroism of someone like Captain Sully. But what if the result had been different for him too?

There's a term used on the farm that seems appropriate at times like these. Sometimes "stuff" happens. (You know the real word!)

May we have compassion and understanding for those who tried to do the right thing in their circumstances… even though it didn't turn out well.

But we tried too.

.