Screaming Penguin - Source Does Matter

Ok. So I am tired as hell about hearing about this movie.

Let me tell you something...

On September 11, 2001 about 2800 Americans died. Now, not to discount the uniformed military and the men of the NYPD and NYFD, for whom heroism is their stock and trade, most of those men and women died as victims.

The 40 men and women and children on United flight 93 died heros. And not even the kind of heroes mentioned above. They died the kind of heroes that the average man dies when faced with extraordinary circumstances. They are as great as the greatest of the Greatest Generation.

I have yet to see this film, but from everything I have heard, it is a best-guess recreation of the actual events of that day. To this point, I heard a woman on NPR this morning -- the sister of a Flight 93 hero -- talking about seeing the film and at 9:49 seeing the character who played her sister on the phone in the background, a phone call she was on the receiving end of. That is the kind of detail that went into this film.

Now, after Sept. 11, I remember remarking that this will never happen in America again. Not because airport security will get massively better or any action of the government, but because Americans on a plane that has been hijacked will simply assume they are already dead, not on their way to Cuba for 60 hours. The story of flight 93 is remarkable because it not only enforces this idea, but because it reminds us just how fast this kind of life-changing information spreads in our connected culture.

Now look, if the president can wear a "Let's Roll" t-shirt, it obviously isn't too early to honor these heroes. Moreover, actually taking a look at the horror they faced certainly doesn't lessen what they did. I still grieve with the families that lost people on Sept 11. But for the grace of god, several of my friends were out of the area of the attacks.

However, facing the pain of that day, and honoring the 43 citizen heroes on this flight should not be something that anyone should have to appologize for.

There is such a thing as "too soon", yes. I always remember a long running Carson bit where he would tell a joke about Abe Lincoln and it would bomb, and he would go, "still too soon?" We need humor to deal with tragedy, but yes, there is a half-life on the time that needs to pass before you can invoke irony to deal with the pain. However, this movie doesn't seem like this at all. It seems like a true -- or as much as can be expected -- recounting of the last hours of some people who should be regarded as heroes. Yes, their death was pointless. And still, I see recountings of the pointless deaths of Roger Chaffee, Gus Grissom and Ed White all the time and they are presented as they should be: the pointless death of Americans who offered themselves up for the rest of us.

Indeed, I think NOT taking a cold and horrific look at what these people did for this country would be the true disrespect.