On September 11, 2001, as smoke, fire and confusion filled the Pentagon after American Airlines Flight 77 struck the building, thousands of people suddenly found themselves trying to escape damaged corridors with limited visibility. Among them was Marilyn Wills, a Pentagon employee whose actions that morning would become part of the many stories of ordinary people helping one another during one of the darkest days in American history.
According to accounts of her experience, Wills moved through smoke and darkness while helping coworkers find their way out. When breathing became increasingly difficult, she reportedly took off her sweater so it could be used to help protect people from the smoke. Instead of concentrating only on reaching safety herself, she continued assisting people around her as they searched for a way through the damaged building.
At one point, Wills encountered an injured woman who was struggling to escape. She helped carry her through the Pentagon, reportedly taking the woman onto her back as they made their way toward safety. Even after reaching the outside, accounts of Wills' actions describe her continuing to focus on others rather than simply leaving the scene.
The scale of what happened at the Pentagon that morning is difficult to comprehend. The attack killed 125 people inside the building, while all 64 people aboard Flight 77, including the five hijackers, also died. Hundreds more were injured. Firefighters, military personnel, emergency workers and civilians rushed to help, while people already inside the Pentagon assisted coworkers and strangers through smoke-filled corridors and away from the burning sections of the building.
Stories like Marilyn Wills' are an important part of remembering September 11 because history is not only the story of the attack itself. It is also the story of how people responded when confronted with extraordinary danger. Across the Pentagon, World Trade Center and Flight 93, people made decisions to guide strangers, carry the injured, provide medical assistance and remain behind to help others escape.
Marilyn Wills was one of those people. Her story reminds us that courage can appear in an instant, when there is little time to think and no guarantee of personal safety. On a day remembered for tremendous loss, her willingness to help others through smoke, darkness and fear deserves to be remembered as part of the human story of September 11.
Thomas Sowell says the welfare state destroyed the Black family. The welfare state a Black mother could touch had a "man in the house" rule that cut her kids off if a husband was found. That's not a marriage problem. That's a policy. That's systemic racism by your own definition
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The UN has announced that we will start running out of clean water (drinking, cooking, showering, dishes, laundry, etc.) in the next few years.
Water won't always be free. When clean water becomes scarce, it will be privatized, priced, and controlled. You will pay for it. And those who can't pay won't survive.
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