Last week, I began a blog entry concerning an heroic act from a women’s baseball team in Washington that I held onto for several days in order to reread it before release. In the interim, a fantastic event occurred here in NYC – an event involving a career pilot, a decision made from years of preparation and professional approach, 155 lives saved, and – miracle of miracles – a hardened, cynical, disaster-addicted news culture adhering to the story of Flight 1549.
I have not seen this kind of coverage of a good-news event covered to universally since…well, since…can you think of a time when good news was covered so thoroughly?
From ABC to the Hindustan Times, reporters around the globe were shouting praises to Chesley B. “Sully” Sullenberger III and copilot Jeffrey Skiles for skillfully landing the US Airways flight to Charlotte from LGA on the Hudson River and saving the lives of every passenger on board.
A collective tear comes to all of our eyes when we think of Capt. Skiles following the exiting passengers with floatation equipment that they had forgotten, and Sully (sorry, Capt. Sullenberger III, but you’re an American icon now…you’ve got to become friendly with “Sully”) walking the plane twice to make certain there were no passengers left behind.
Let us not forget to tip our hats to the fine ferry conductors and staff, volunteers, and emergency rescue workers in New York City who were instrumental in the survival of the passengers of Flight 1549.
What an opportunity for all of our news providers to finally cover a story that inspires us in strong and noble thought! What an undeniable accomplishment to inspire not only quick, decisive, elegant action that saves lives based on a career of honing skill and perfection, but also the average American to buy a copy of a newspaper and turn on advertising-laden news programming.
If only it could be everyday.
That was the point of my original blog entry. You might wonder what the heroes of Flight 1549 have in common with a relatively simple sacrificial act of players in a woman’s softball team in Washington.
The answer is: something bigger than obligation fed these individuals and drove their heroic actions. What drove them was knowing, innately, the right thing to do — and in so doing, made the world a better place by their gracious, noble actions. Please honor the women of Washington for just a few moments and read my original blog entry.
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In these times, it is often difficult to come across news articles that engender honorable thought and action. Indeed, it took me over half a year to become aware of the singularly sacrificial and noble action taken by a team of softball players in Ellensburg, Washington last April. I’m not a huge follower of sports stories, but this story crosses cultural lines.
This is from the New York Times, via The Seattle Times – April 30, 2008
By George Vecsey http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/collegesports/2004381880_vecsey30.html
“The moment of grace came after Sara Tucholsky, a diminutive senior for Western Oregon, hit what looked like a three-run homer against Central Washington. Never in her 21 years had Tucholsky propelled a ball over a fence, so she did not have her home run trot in order, gazing in awe, missing first base. When she turned back to touch the bag, her right knee buckled, and she went down, crying and crawling back to first base.
“…The Western Oregon coach made sure no teammates touched Tucholsky, which would have automatically made her unable to advance. The umpires ruled that if Tucholsky could not make it around the bases, two runs would score but she would be credited with only a single.
“Then Mallory Holtman, the powerful first baseman for Central Washington, said words that brought a chill to everybody who heard them:
“‘Excuse me, would it be OK if we carried her around and she touched each bag?’”
The umpires said there was no rule against it, so Holtman and another player from Central Washington, Liz Wallace, picked up Tucholsky and physically touched her good leg to each base. Tucholsky was credited with a three-base home run. This was an away-game for Western Oregon. The act left the stands in tears, and aided Western Oregon to win the double-header against Central Washington.
Holtman and Wallace, and the rest of the Central Washington team, didn’t know Tucholsky from Adam. They just knew the right thing to do. “She hit it over the fence,” Holtman said. “She deserved it. Anybody would have done it. I just beat them to it.”
The question is: would anyone have done it?
The second, and possibly more pertinent question is: Why isn’t this story on the front page of every national and international newspaper? Why isn’t this story presented on every news station as a shining example of what Americans are capable of? Why did I have to hear about it third-hand from a coaching CD made for chiropractors (thank you to Bob Hoffman, D.C., of The Master’s Circle Master Talk – August ’08, by the way) nine month’s later?
The fact is, I believe we all have an innate sense of right and fairness, but we are rarely presented with that face in our present media-driven environment. Because we are not, we rarely give ourselves the chance to answer the first question: Would anyone have done it?
Most of us would certainly like to think so. We would all like to see ourselves as the noble hero that gives of ourselves for something bigger than who we think we are – that we ultimately stand for what is right, and act from what is the right thing to do.
However, we are rarely presented with such wonderful people in our media…such individuals who suddenly come shining through and present themselves as the wonderful inner heroes we would like to be ourselves.
Instead, we are fed daily courses of horror, violence and subhuman actions until we think that this is the way people are. Because of cynical representations of all class structures in our movies, and violence-driven news coverage in our media, we have created a culture in which American parents, myself included, have left us simultaneously with a horrible suspicion of the neighbors in our immediate environment and the dreadful, overwhelming certainty that there is not a thing we can do about the state of affairs – that it seems just too big a problem.
We need stories like Tucholsky’s experience with Western Oregon’s women’s baseball team, and all stores that present tangible examples of strong and noble action, to be at least as prominent as all the stories of terror, murder, and unfortunate circumstance in all aspects of our lives.
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Ironically, in the best sense, Captains Sully and Skiles came along to support my position on strong and noble thought and action. Hats off to the ladies and gents of America who stand for right action and living a life of honor.
It is our environment that governs our physiology and psychology. As a doctor, I am prescribing that, until the media and popular entertainment culture understand the value of boosting the moral of our citizenry, we all curtail our intake of news stories to the bare-bones necessity level – not to turn on our TV with the morning coffee or to switch it off right before we go to bed – until there are clear indications that the news is covering stories of kindness and generosity, honor and strength at least as often as they cover the terror and sadness that seems to sell papers.
We collectively, with our fear and our cynicism, add to the fire in which we find ourselves. If we make a point to cooperatively remind ourselves that, basically, we all are trying to live our lives as the best people we can be, our parasympathetic levels will rise at once and we will show mercy and goodness for no other reason than that it is the right thing to do. This will translate into a more fertile physical and spiritual environment in which our children and we can develop aspects that are downright godlike with compassion.
We can start with a phone call to our news media, an e-mail to their web sites, or a web commentary each time we see an act of goodness and kindness. Let our media know we care about the good things! One by one, let’s let them know that good news is of interest, and could quite possibly be as profitable, if not more, as war and misery.
It is up to us whether or not we live in fear or fascination – horror or humble gratefulness. Let’s make our environment fertile with celebration so that we can express ourselves to our fullest.
I love you all.
Dr. Claire Fitzpatrick
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