I guess I’m either too optimistic or unable to grasp reality. A plane crashed this morning, in Queens. My immediate reaction was to call Denis and make sure that the location of the crash was nowhere near his parents’ place – after all, they are along major flight paths for both JFK and LaGuardia… My second reaction was – well, it’s an accident. I mean, not to be crude or anything, but it just didn’t do enough damage to be along the same lines as the terrorist attacks. A number of people I’ve spoken to have immediately assumed it’s more terrorist stuff. No offense to anyone, but it might as well be if you believe that it is. That’s what terrorists want. They want you to live your life afraid of everything – and if you do, they win.
What happened this morning was a tragedy. But I believe that it was an accident. If something’s wrong with a plane that’s going to cause it to crash, that’s going to happen not long after takeoff. It puts an amazing amount of stress on the aircraft – it’s accelerating, and gaining altitude, and usually turning – all at the same time. What were the weather conditions? Was it windy? There are so many things that could cause a plane to crash – the miracle is that it doesn’t happen very often, despite all those things. So, instead of trying to pin the blame, I suggest we all take a deep breath, pray for the victims and their families, and go on living.