Brother Love

If I could capture one moment this year forever it would be the time when my 9 month old grandson reached out his hand for his 4 year brother. I was squished in the back seat with them when Elijah deliberately reached out to his brother, Noah. I expected Noah to ignore it, but Noah gently reached back and for half a minute they looked at each other and held hands. I had no idea that children this young connected.

Elijah follows his big brother with his eyes as if to say, "wow, that's my hero and I want to be just like him some day." He has a look for Noah that's different than for any other person. And Noah returns the look and the adoration. Noah lays there while Elijah pulls his hair because he doesn't know not to yet. Noah runs up and gives him kisses.

It's a tribute to mom and dad that the brothers already love each other and there's no jealousy.

Flight 93

Flight 93, the movie about the plane that was hijacked on 9/11 and went down over Pennsylvania, accurately portrays real people. It's not a movie made to sell at the box office, but instead it uses ordinary dialogue and the actions of everyday people trapped on a airplane doomed to crash somewhere. Fifteen years ago we wouldn't have known that a daughter called her mother to say goodbye or that a husband called his wife to tell her he loved her. But cell phones gave us an inside look at what happened. Even the outcome might have been different as the callers onboard found out the fate of the other airplanes and realized they too had a suicidal pilot.

I came away with respect for everyone involved because of the courage they showed. The producers chose unknown actors because they didn't want the movie to stand out for it's personality, but they wanted the heroes to be the main theme. And they were: from the Verizon operator to the guys who stormed the cockpit.

The movie was intense because the whole time you know how it ends. You know that no matter how hard the mom tries to convince her daughter that she'll see her again that she won't. I imagine some of the dialogue was spiced up a little, but it doesn't seem overdramatic. The producers talked to all the families and worked at getting accurate dialogue.

Lastly, the movie is not political. I didn't feel manipulated or like the producer was trying to make a point. Instead, I was grateful to the real-life heros who worked to save the lives of those on the ground in a place unknown to them.