Alan Beaven

Alan Beaven ((Unitedheroes.com))

September 11, 2001 was a date that America could not forget but for those that don't know what happened there was a terrorist attack. There were four hijacked planes, two of the planes crashed into two skyscrapers at the World Trade Center in New York City. The impact caused the buildings to catch fire and collapse. Another plane destroyed part of the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia. The last plane was originally headed for the Capitol Building but the course was altered and it landed in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

For those who know about Alan Beaven, they would say he was a hero. He was an average citizen like you and I, but he did something that offsets him from just being ordinary. Alan Beaven was a man who was on Flight 93 and heroically fought the hijackers on the plane. No one knows what happened in the plane but we all know the outcome of what happened afterwards which was the plane crash, and that it was intentionally headed for the capital but the plan was thwarted and ended up in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Alan's seat was in the back but his body was found in the cockpit.

He worked as an environmental lawyer and did a case out in Sacramento before going on his sabbatical with his wife, to India, and that was when the plane got hijacked. His background wasn't being some cool superstar or a superhero, he was just an ordinary man with the job of being a lawyer.

Alan has my two traits for a hero. The most important trait is courage and Alan clearly has that. He bravely charged at the hijackers with other passengers. Here Alan had to not fear anything and he knew he would die in the end. I am not the only one who thinks this, for those out there know that Alan was a very brave man to do what he did. He had the wisdom to know how to act upon the situation at hand and consider the outcomes of the situation. Alan knew this was either he dies with his fellow passengers or he dies with his fellow passengers and hundreds of others. We don't know what happened in that plane but we do know the outcome and he had to be very cunning about that, knowing that he was in the back of the plane.

He along with others, sacrificed their lives to save others. He left behind a wife, two sons, and a daughter. Alan's' secretary went in his office and found a quote on the wall that said, "Fear, who cares?" That in my mind tells me all that I need about him. It says that he would selflessly give up his life for others, no matter the situation, which he did. That is why I think of Alan Beaven as a hero.