Todd Morgan Beamer

Crash site (http://emptv.com/research/loose-change-4)

“What we do for ourselves dies with us. What we do for others and the world remains and is immortal” (Albert Pine). When an average person is faced with a tremendous tragedy just waiting to unravel, the first instinct is most usually to run; save yourself from the danger about to happen, as Pine quotes, “What we do for ourselves dies with us”. I think what he was trying to pursue in this is that when you do something in order to only benefit yourself; that dies alongside with you, nobody is going to want to remember the person that could have done something greater and didn’t. “What we do for others and the world remains and is immortal”, if you put yourself on the line to do something bigger and better and to think of how somebody else’s life is going to be positively changed... that is what is going to stick in everybody’s memories…this is what a hero is. This is what Todd Morgan Beamer is.

(http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=todd+beamer&form=QBIR&qs=n&sk=&sc=8-11#focal=fdddf2022643b870b0f56381c08e57aa&furl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.historycommons.org%2Fevents-images%2F324_todd_beamer.jpg)

Todd Beamer was one of the 44 people shaken by the hands of fate, destined for this disaster to strike him; but instead of cowering in a corner as 3 massive hijackers silently plotted to take the many lives of innocent people and crash United 93 into the White House, he decided to make a move. The 3 hijackers were each armed; all 3 with knifes, and one with a makeshift bomb strapped against his waist. Slowly the passengers onboard began to realize what was going on, they all knew they were going to lose their lives. Courage is an extremely powerful thing which Beamer had. He found 2 other brave souls who would “storm the cockpit” alongside of him and take these terrorists down, all were very well aware they would not get out alive, but wanted to make the most out of their final minutes.

(http://www.google.com/images?q=united+93+crash+site&hl=en&gbv=2&tbs=isch:1&sa=N&start=40&ndsp=20)

Fifteen minutes before their raid, they made their final phone calls. Most of the people on the plane called their loved ones to say their last goodbyes, Todd however did not. As the father of 2 young boys with another on the way, and a supporting husband; he decided to call GTE instead. His wife would hear the news soon enough and he did not want to worry her even more than that, no matter how badly he wanted to reach her. Lisa Beamer, (Todd’s wife) said she knew what he would have said anyways so she is glad he called GTE instead. He and the woman on the other end of the line talked for 13 minutes, he asked her to say the Lord’s Prayer with him and he told her that he was planning to attack the hijackers. Instead of hanging up the phone when he finished talking to her, Todd left the line open and began their raid. The last encouraging words she heard come out of his mouth were, “Are you guys ready? Ok. Let’s roll!”(TB). After a few more minutes the line went dead and she knew he had sacrificed his life for the US. Had he and the other 2 men not taken down the terrorists before they crashed into the White House, the United States would have gone into utter chaos.

The plane Todd had boarded the terrible day of September 11th, 2001, crashed in a remote part of Pennsylvania. While searching the remains of Untied 93, they discovered that the 3 hijackers had been killed before the crash. Unfortunately, Todd did not know how to land a plane and still lost his life that day. Every day you are faced with decisions that you can choose to be a hero by making the right choice, or a coward and save only your own skin.

Works Consulted Bruce J. Evensen. "Beamer, Todd Morgan"; http://www.anb.org/articles/20/20-01916.html; American National Biography Online Feb. 2000. Access Date: Fri May 21 14:57:21 PDT 2010 Faltermayer, Charlotte. "The Team Player: TODD BEAMER.(Person Of The Year/Gallery Of Heroes)(Brief Article)." Time. 158. 28 (Dec 31, 2001): 108. Student Resource Center - Gold. Gale. DEL NORTE HIGH SCHOOL. 21 May. 2010 "September 11, One year on...: The passenger: Why was my daddy killed on Flight 93?(News)." The Birmingham Post (England). MGN Ltd. 2002. HighBeam Research. 21 May. 2010 >http://www.highbeam.com>. By Charles Lane, Don Phillips and David Snyder Washington Post Staff Writers Monday, September 17, 2001; Page A03