Many of the conversations I have had over the last several days inevitably turn to the heroic landing of US Airways Flight 1549 on the Hudson River. It is such a compelling story and the images seen almost immediately via the Internet make for lasting impressions. Who can get the picture of people standing on the wings of the plane, seeming to walk on water, out of their head? It is truly the stuff of big screen movies. But it actually happened. Really.
Capt. Chesley B. Sullenberger, known as Sully, is now a hero to people around the world. Saturday night on Prairie Home Companion Show, Garrison Keillor even created a song using his and his flight mates' names. The song was simple, sweet, and filled with deserved admiration. In times when our news is usually filled with disaster and how people failed one another, here is a story to hold onto…tight. Each of us want a Sully in our lives, someone who under extreme duress, remains calm and does what needs to be done. Some of us even hope to be that kind of person.
The part of this story that intrigues me most is that what Capt. Sully did was something he never practiced. While he had flown gliders, what he knew about landing a plane of that size on water…a river, no less….he had learned only in theory. At some point of his flight training he had learned what he needed to do, the timing of doing it, what he needed to avoid to exercise such a landing and it planted itself within him to be called upon when…if…needed. He carried that wisdom someplace deep within himself and when the time came he retrieved it for the good of all the people on that plane and most likely those who lived on each side of the river.
Today is the celebration of the birth of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. As a child I was shaped by Dr. King's message and mission of nonviolence and peace, of his dream for a time when all children, regardless of the color of their skin, would stand together and bring about a world where racism no longer is a shadow upon our land. For so many years we have continued to tell his story, lift his message of hope for the freedom of all people as we have celebrated this day. For nearly forty years children have read and memorized parts of the I Have a Dream speech as teachers hoped to plant deep within those students the seed of wisdom that can grow and flourish, a seed that will grow into the fullness of Dr. King's dream for our great country.
In so many ways we are like Captain Sully. We have within us what we need to know to reject hate, to lift up the poor and impoverished, the downtrodden and the hopeless. We have within us the wisdom to shun violence and to be peacemakers in our time for the sake of the world. We have within us the power of love for our brothers and sisters, a love so great it could heal any wound the world might inflict.
This wisdom, this love, this power was placed within us at our birth by the Creator. Perhaps today will be the day when we reach deep within and remember how to do what, up to this day, has only been known in theory.
"I have a dream today. I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together." Martin Luther King, Jr.