Honoring Men Who Protect
Observations from the movie “Sully”
With tears streaming down my cheeks while watching the movie, “Sully” for the third time, I feel so much appreciation for men who are drawn to protect.
This Clint Eastwood directed movie is based on the true story about Captain Sullenberger (nickname Sully) who landed a US Airways plane in the Hudson River after birds flew into both engines, completely cutting off all engine functionality. Tom Hanks plays the role of Pilot Captain Sully in the movie. Sully wrote a book about this experience upon which the movie is based — Highest Duty: My Search For What Really Matters.
When the birds hit the engines, on both sides of the plane, Sully knew they were in trouble. Calmly, with 40 years of flying experience supporting him, he knew exactly what needed to be done, trusting his instincts in the process. Jumping past some of the steps in the process, he went straight to the one thing he knew was needed for the plane to land safely with no engines working now.
“My plane” he says to co-pilot Jeffrey Skiles (Aaron Eckhart). Nodding and agreeing, Jeffrey repeats, “your plane.”
Realizing they wouldn’t make a local airport for an emergency landing, Sully surveyed the options and knew, trusting his instincts, that their only option was to land in the Hudson River, which was visible in their physical sight.
Communicating with the local airport tower controller, when he recognized there wasn’t enough ‘lift’ possibility to get over the tall buildings to an airport, he announced they were landing in the Hudson River that is the dividing line between New York and New Jersey. It’s January 15, 2009 and freezing temperatures outside.
Never done before by a jet, so many immediate choices needed to be made by authorities in the surrounding area.
I am moved by the two men in the cockpit, Sully and co-pilot Jeffrey Skiles (Aaron Eckhardt). They did everything they knew to do from life and work experience, with complete focus, courage, trusting their gut, doing what was needed to save the passengers. Their commitment to PROTECT the passengers is amazing. I’m moved by how important protecting the passengers was a primary focus.
Sully walked through the plane handing people jackets from the bins above the seats, as he personally chose to protect his passengers. He took the walk again once he was sure everybody was off to verify the empty plane, wading in water up to his knees that was entered through a hole in the back of the plane. Tears of gratitude.
The fire departments and police departments, ground and air, in both New York and New Jersey were instantly involved, working as a team. Red Cross volunteers appeared on the shores with blankets to wrap passengers in warmth from the cold January temperatures.
Seven ferry boats rapidly found their way to the landed plane, providing refuge for the passengers standing outside the plane on rafts and wings waiting to be rescued. All the men on the boats instinctively felt a desire to save lives, to protect the passengers who were probably in trauma.
I’m moved by the men who knew exactly what needed to be done to rescue people who were in the water by jumping from helicopters. Their desire to choose this career, learn the needed skills and be calm, effective and precise in the moment, as well as the capacity to risk what was needed is huge. I honor their courage to do their jobs to protect the people.
At the end of the movie it is stated that at the actual plane landing January 15, 2009 more than 1200 first-responders and 7 ferry boats, carrying commuters who changed their course due to the emergency, were there to help everybody on the plane get to safety as fast as possible and completed the rescue in 24 minutes of the plane landing.
The men driving the ferry boats and the ones providing a helping hand for passengers to climb the ropes to get on the boats are commendable for their desire to protect.
Even though there were a few women involved, mostly in the movie the men were at the forefront. I am so appreciating that a driving desire in these men was to protect and that they would risk their lives if need be accomplish that goal. It literally had me crying at how honorable these men were (and still are) because they feel drawn to this inside of them.
It helped me step into appreciating men who protect their loved ones or even strangers when they are appreciated by the people in their lives.
Having seen this movie for the first time before the Las Vegas shootings in October 2017, I had that same feeling of appreciation and honor for some of the men whose stories I read online.
In a couple of the news feeds I saw people interviewed talking about how they saw men protecting the women with them by putting their bodies over these women. In some cases the men were shot. I did read of one girl who did that for her brother. But most of the stories were about the men.
The thing I wanted to share, and it’s a very minor aspect of the entire Las Vegas event, is the heroism of the men who did this. I feel sad at how often we tend to not honor men and the automatic risk some of them take to protect.
Years ago I remember reading an article by a man who said that he was trained, learned early on that he would give his life to protect the people he loved. He expected to die, was trained to believe that if the choice were between protecting his loved ones and his death, he would give his life. Some of these men did that. Rapidly and automatically.
I know it’s not all men and it’s not all the time, obviously.
I wanted to take a moment to acknowledge the courage, bravery and automatic protection these men did provide.
One man shared this in response to my post about this event: “Pamelah, thanks for your observation of the Men there at that shooting. Their first instinct was to protect their loved ones.We all are not brute beasts out to destroy Women. We love our Women & when it comes down having to give my life for their, I will happily make that sacrifice.”
So many of the women reading my post commented on how seeing the men do this brought tears to their eyes and how rarely we honor men.
One other interaction I wanted to share here from a woman:
Thank you, yes these men and women need to be honored, greatly. I know my brother and my father would do the same with out a doubt, as would I. So many heroes yesterday, we may never know them all. Some are still here. It’s the stories of these ones that bring tears to my eyes, those that selflessly give of their lives to save another.
My response: So many heroes everyday that we don’t hear about! Maybe that is something we can start paying attention to and letting the men in our lives know how we see them as heroes. It may be just a little thing, like helping carry something heavy to a different location.
Maybe we could start acknowledging the little things men do for us at work, home or even at the grocery store. When I get help out with a big box at a store, I say to the man who helped me, “you are my hero today.” The man’s face lights up. He may slightly nod his head. Usually there isn’t any verbal acknowledgement and I totally understand and respect that. But I can tell he feels like he has has been acknowledged and contributed in a valuable way to my life because I told him he was my hero today. I even do this at the grocery store when I get help.
I recently told my mailman, “you are my hero today” when he helped me with a few mailing issues including taking out the current lock so a new one could be installed. He smiled — sort of — and kept on distributing the mail. I could feel he appreciated hearing it. How often do mail delivery people be appreciated?
In summary, I so appreciate and honor the men who feel called to protect people who matter to them. For Sully, they were all strangers at the time of the event. His 155 passengers were at the forefront of his commitment to protect.
For the stories of the men in Las Vegas, it was their immediate loved ones.
And everyday there are men who provide support and protection for us in ways that we may not even acknowledge: fathers, brothers, boyfriends, husbands, garden and landscape providers, policemen, firemen, executives who are focused on their employees’ welfare, teachers, trainers, pilots, engineers, doctors…and the list goes on. Thank you men who take care of us. I honor you and appreciate your skills, brawn, risks and desire to provide safety for us.
Pamelah Landers is an Expert in Relationships and Intuitive Business Mentor. Pamelah@PamelahLanders.com
