1-26-09
Dear Elder & Sister Hansen, and all my away children,
We had a great Sacrament Meeting yesterday. Little Matthew D spoke first, and he was part stand up comic, and part common sense/spirituality that was far beyond his young years. He spoke about his favorite Conf. talk from Elder Worthlin, and gave several football analogy’s. [This is the same 4’10” little Matthew that in the “Turkey Bowl” flag football games would go up against Mark H and Ryan P, and other comparatively huge men, and snarl at them, make contorted faces, shake his fists, and try to make intimidating sounds like, “GRRRRRRRRR!!!, GRRRRRRRRR!!!” You would be laughing so hard that he would then run past you to sack the quarterback (pull his flag).]
He told about the most recent game on New Year’s Day, it was tied up 27 to 27, and on one of the final plays of the game Daniel H had caught what appeared to be the winning touchdown. Everyone thought that Daniel had caught the ball, and his team mates were already wildly celebrating the apparent victory. But Daniel H told everyone that the ball touched the ground first, and therefore it was an incomplete pass. So instead the game ended in a 27 all tie. Matthew was really moved by this gesture, that Daniel chose to be honest and not win [tie] the game, rather than lie and win. No one would have been the wiser, had he just kept his mouth shut. Matthew stated that “Daniel was a true hero” in his eyes. It would not surprise me to see his picture in 25 to 30 years from now in the center of the “Ensign” magazine Conf. editions (with all the other General Authorities).
Kit B also spoke and gave a powerful message. So confident and articulate, and it is quite apparent that she has had some good training and has a great handle on life.
Bro. Randy A was the High Council speaker, and among other things, he told about Captain Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger, the pilot of US Airlines passenger jet flight 1549, that had to do an emergency crash landing in the Hudson River, after some birds got sucked into its engines shortly after take off. 1 As the plane was going down, with the potential panic that could have presented its self, the passengers & crew heard the calm, cool, collected voice of the Captain telling them to “brace for impact”. It was so soothing, so assuring, that it made it almost seem like a drill, rather than the life and death peril they faced. The former fighter pilot then very smoothly landed the jet on the frigid waters of the Hudson River, as though he had done it a thousand times before (he probably had in flight simulators, and had while still in the military performed at least one other emergency crash landing). Video recording and eye witnesses confirmed that the well trained crew had the doors opened within 30 seconds, and had all passengers out and in lifeboats within 5 min. There was no frantic mad dash or stampede trampling victims underfoot. Everything was orderly, calm, yet surprisingly quick. There were reports of the passengers and crew making sure that a woman with a small child was placed ahead of themselves, to make sure that she had priority in getting out. Also the only major injury of a woman who broke both of her legs (because of her poor positioning in her seat belt at impact), was assisted by passengers and crew to get her out of the plane (again ahead of themselves). Captain “Sully” then went through the plane himself from head to tail twice, to make sure that everyone was off the plane, and then stood on the wing directing the final loading of all the passengers and crew, before he himself as the last one entered the life raft.
Within 10 min. of the crash, a nearby ferry boat had diverted its course to come to the rescue and then joined by other rescue boats that arrived had all the survivors picked up after only 15 min. from when the plane originally went down. The crews of these rescue boats immediately wrapped the survivors in blankets or removed their own coats to cover them and keep them warm (they also gave them warm/hot drinks to help warm them up). Later when the pilot, crew, and rescue boat personnel were being praised with titles of heroic, courageous, and bravery under extreme circumstances; to a person, they all down played those honors and said they were “just doing their job”.
[As a side note to this, while all the news media were giving credit to Captain “Sully” for saving the lives of the 155 passengers in the expertly executed crash landing and evacuation; Captain “Sully” was quietly, behind the scenes contacting the library to inform them that the book he had checked out a few days before was lost/water damaged in the plane crash, and he offered to buy them a new one as a replacement.2 As if anybody in the whole world would have worried about that book at this point, with everything else that had just occurred,… but Captain “Sully” knew it. He considered that his own personal honor was at stake here. He was responsible for that book, and he was going to make it right. Plus the only way we knew about this incident, was because the library informed the news media. They also said that privacy laws prohibited them from giving the title of the book, but they could release the subject matter of the book, which was “personal ethics”. I think that about says it all.]
Always remember that the true mark of “character” is, doing the right thing when no one else is looking.
Until next time, all my love, Jamie
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