Highest Duty_ My Search for What Really Matters - Chesley B. Sullenberger [62]
Who among us could have brought ourselves to lift that white-hot flare to our chest with our bare hands? Presented with that situation, I assume I would have let it burn through the floor of the B-29.
Knowing that there have been people like Erwin, capable of doing such extraordinary things—acts that are truly beyond comprehension—I feel that the least I can do is be of service in whatever very small ways are available to me.
Sometimes that means recalling how I felt as a thirteen-year-old, when I first heard the story of Kitty Genovese, and made a vow about the kind of person I hoped to be. And sometimes it means attempting the smallest of acts—helping a couple find a lost stroller, or enabling a standby passenger to get the last seat on a departing plane.
10
ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE
LORRIE AND I have a favorite hill, and we’re very lucky, because it is within minutes of our house, on a large piece of open land right at the edge of our neighborhood in Danville. We hike up there together to think, to breathe, and to appreciate. It’s a pretty magical place.
Most of the year, everywhere you look on that hill, there are acres of tall native grasses, in every variation of brown and gold. Later in the spring, for a short while, the grass turns green and more lush. Brown or green doesn’t matter to me. I appreciate the beauty there in every season.
On the afternoon of January 11, 2009, Lorrie suggested that we take a walk up that hill. It was a Sunday, and I was scheduled to leave early the following morning for the trip that would end, four days later, with Flight 1549.
We had a lot on our minds that day. Like so many Americans, we were worried about the economy, and how our serious financial issues might be resolved. I continued to be very concerned about the Jiffy Lube franchise that hadn’t renewed its lease on our property, and about our ability to keep up the mortgage payments on it. It was a problem with no easy solution. My focus can narrow when thinking about our personal problems or the economic woes of the airline industry, and Lorrie has a wonderful ability to help me change my perspective.
We were sitting in the kitchen, and Lorrie knew what might help. “Come on,” she said to me, “let’s go for a walk.”
And so we hiked up the fire road that narrows into a trail on that steep, beautiful unnamed hill. We stopped at the top to look into the valley below. It’s a gorgeous panorama of neighborhoods in one direction, and pristine open spaces in the other. The sights from that hill can literally widen your view of the world. Somehow, your troubles get put into perspective. The view restores and renews you.
On that day, Lorrie and I were quiet for a little while, just taking it all in, and then I said to her: “Looking out there makes you feel like anything is possible.”
She smiled at me. She already knew it, without me having to say the words. That’s Lorrie. If you want to discover the benefits of believing that anything is possible, hike up a hill with her. You’ll be inspired and reassured.
LORRIE IS an exceptionally strong woman, and as I have watched her grapple with various issues in her life, and the challenges in our own family, I’ve learned a great deal about the power of optimism and acceptance, and about the responsibilities all of us have to carve a path to our own happiness.
She and I are a bit different. I’m a believer in “realistic optimism,” which I consider a leader’s most effective tool. That’s short-term realism combined with long-term optimism. Lorrie understands the value in that, to be sure, but she also sees how embracing full-on optimism about life’s possibilities is good for your health, your relationships, and your sanity.
Lorrie speaks frankly and from the heart, and she’s able to take her life and pull from it moments and experiences that resonate deeply with other women, literally changing their lives.