Wow.

I just finished watching United 93 and I'm finishing drying my eyes.

There are many movies that I wish ended differently. I hate the fact that Bruce Willis' character dies at the end of Armageddon. I watch Mystery, Alaska over and over again, fervently hoping the puck will go in the net finally instead of bouncing off the crossbar. I'm always saddened at the end of Braveheart and Gladiator that the main characters don't live to enjoy the freedom for which they've fought.

But I have to say United 93 is the one I regret the ending of the most, because it is a true story. I'm awed by these people who willingly risked their lives to try to prevent another disaster on September 11, 2001. If I were faced with having to confront men with knives in a confined space 30,000 feet above the ground, I wish I could say I would be as brave and selfless as those passengers were, but I cannot be confident of that fact--and I hope I will never have to find out. But the circumstances were there for them to pull off an amazing save. They had a passenger on board who had some piloting experience, and another who had worked in air traffic control. Together they, if the circumstances were right, could have gotten the plane to the ground. If the story were fiction, they would have successfully overpowered the hijackers, gotten into the pilots' seats, and had a hair-raisingly close call on the way to the ground, but they would have made it in the end. But this was a real event, caused by real evil people. And those real evil people tried to carry out their plan, and in the ensuing struggle the plane crashed with no survivors.

But the passengers didn't lose. They prevented a fourth disaster on September 11, and established themselves in history as people who fought for their lives, their countrymen, and their freedom.

Evil doesn't have a gender, a religion, a country. Evil can come from anywhere, and the only hope we have is that there will always be people who have the faith and courage to fight back.

God bless America.

Land of the free, because of the brave.