Food for Thought: A Contrast in Pilots

Yesterday, within hours of each other, two individuals in charge showed their stuff. Captain Chesley B. Sullenberger, III, drawing on years of training and experience, made a swift decision to land his crippled US Airways plane in the Hudson River, three minutes after takeoff from La Guardia. His astonishing skill, and his presumed calm, confident leadership, preserved the lives of everyone on board. And insured the safety of untold New Yorkers as he guided the huge plane into a slim ribbon of water in midtown Manhattan.

The other individual in charge? Incompetent, disingenuous, and pathetic.

People recognize what is palpable, genuine and substantive. We say goodbye and good riddance to a fear-full era of flabby, faux leadership. We embrace "the real stuff."

We welcome cooperation and self-lessness--witness the efforts of New York's ferry pilots, tugboat captains, random boaters, emergency personnel of all stripes, working together. We salute guts and discipline--witness the way the downed plane's crew and passengers reached safety.

We revel in the best that human beings can be.

Comments

[Acai Berry]

Wow, that was pretty crazy!

[foodmuseumblog]

It's clear that the audience for Dubya was small, and then he was bamboozled by the Hudson coverage, too.

[Rose]

I was on the run all day yesterday and missed my daily dose of NYT, WP, CNN et al. Have the hopefully very last good bye by the misunderestimated decider and the reports of the "miracle on the Hudson" been happenning at the same time? The reporting of the two events, I mean? If so, did anyone listen to W? What are the numbers?