Sunday, September 12, 2010

Whose Team Are You On (Part 1 of a 2 Part Series)

Pilots, I believe, are inherently freedom oriented. Created to capture the freedom of birds, manned flight is at one time both an act of freedom and quest for freedom.  And here in the home land of freedom, it should be no surprise to future generations that this is where that freedom became a successful reality.  Sadly though, we pilots have known far longer than the general population that freedom is under attack.
Yes, it is easy to see that it was aviation’s symbolic role in freedom that made it such an effective weapon in the hearts and minds of Americans on 9/11.  But often it is more difficult to accept what our own eyes are telling us when it is our very own citizens on the attack.  Is it the curse of thinking the best of people, or maybe that we are lazy, or more likely our unwillingness to face reality that keeps us from accepting what we see?  Whatever it is, I know that aviation has long served as a test bed for politicians wishing to gauge the willingness of a people to bequeath their freedom to others.  Most terrifying though has been the eagerness of our sport and our leaders to hand it over.  This my friends CANNOT continue if we are to survive as a sport and a nation.  You are either for freedom, or you are against it.  And, it is time we all decide whose team we are on.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

You are so right! Keep letting politicians convince us to give up our rights, and soon it will be big brother running us! Keep giving in to fear and they win!~
Ross

Anonymous said...

In a democracy we have the means to solve this problem. It is called "term limits". This constraint should be politicians of all stripes...including the leaders, both elected and hired, of our interest groups.

Ken Martin