Many of us remember the U.S. victory over the Soviet Union in the
1980 Olympics at Lake Placid. It came at a good time.
We all know the story. The 1970's had been hard on
America. We were beginning to look like losers buffetted by
economic uncertainty, high inflation and unemployment, the loss
of prestige on the international stage, the looming threat of
nuclear war . . .
We often point to Ronald Reagan's election as where it all turned
around, but that hockey game at the Olympics, a moment when
Americans (college kids, no less) rose to the occasion against
all expectations, seemed to be part of a comeback in the public
consciousness.
I had a little of the same feeling this morning while listening
to Mike and Mike on ESPN Radio interview a guy who was seated on
the exit row in the
US Airways plane that crash-landed in the Hudson River.
He described a scene where people didn't panic, but instead did
what they needed to do in an orderly fashion to survive.
Everyone, from the pilot to the crew to the passengers to the
ferry operators and other rescuers, worked together to bring life
out of a deadly situation.
This is a proud moment. It comes at a time when we've been
smacked around by crisis and negativity. We have had a
feeling of looming disaster. We walk around psychically
hunched, braced for a hit. The actions of everyone involved
in the miracle on the Hudson shows that we may be better suited
to weather a storm and to rebuild than we thought.
I didn't have anything to do with this wonderful story, but these
people are my countrymen. I'm standing a little taller on
the inside today. This may be the start of our turnaround.
