Welcome to 2026, where feminists thinks Sydney Sweeney doing a sexy ad is setting women back, but Lindsay Clancy killing her three kids and crying postpartum psychosis isn’t.
I reread this every year.
I cry like a baby every year.
Todd Beamer died a father, husband, and hero.
Todd: Hello… Operator… listen to me. I can’t speak very loud. This is an emergency. I’m a passenger on a United flight to San Francisco. Our plane has been hijacked.
Lisa: I understand. Can they see you?
Todd: No. There are three that we know of. They have knives — razor knives, like box cutters. Someone announced from the cockpit there was a bomb. It sounded fake.
Lisa: Your name?Todd: Todd Beamer. United Flight 93.Todd: They killed one passenger in first class. They forced most of us back. Fourteen of us here. Five flight attendants. The guy with the bomb ordered us to sit on the floor.
Lisa: Are you okay?
Todd: We’re going down… wait. No. We’re leveling off. We changed directions. We’re flying east again.
Todd: A guy named Jeremy called his wife. She told him two planes hit the World Trade Center. Lisa, is that true?
Lisa: I have to tell you the truth. It’s very bad. Both towers are gone. A third plane hit the Pentagon. Our country is under attack. I’m afraid your plane may be part of their plan.
Todd: Oh God. Lisa, will you do something for me? Call my wife and my kids. Promise me you’ll call.
Lisa: I promise.
Todd: Our home number is… You have the same name as my wife. Lisa. We’ve been married ten years. She’s pregnant with our third child. Tell her I love her. I’ll always love her. We have two boys — David, he’s 3, and Andrew, he’s 1. Tell them their daddy loves them and he is so proud of them. The baby is due January 12th. I saw an ultrasound. We still don’t know if it’s a girl or a boy.
Lisa: I’ll tell them. I promise, Todd.(Lisa patches in the FBI.)
Agent: Todd, your plane is on a course for Washington. Best guess is the White House or the Capitol.
Todd: I understand. I’ll be back.
Todd: Everyone knows this isn’t a normal hijacking. We have decided we will not be pawns in their plot.
Lisa: What are you going to do?
Todd: Four of us are going to rush the one with the bomb. Then the cockpit. A stewardess is getting boiling water. We’ll take them out.
Todd: Would you pray with me?They pray the Lord’s Prayer. Then: Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me.
Todd: God help me. Jesus help me.Are you guys ready? Let’s Roll.
🇺🇸 September 14, 2001. Ground Zero.
President Bush climbed onto a wrecked fire truck with a retired FDNY man named Bob Beckwith and a bullhorn.
A worker in the pile yelled that he could not hear him.
Bush: “I can hear you! I can hear you! The rest of the world hears you! And the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon!”
Video from National Archives
"After the Rangers game, our worst nightmare happened: the elevator to Penn Station wasn’t working.
For most people, that’s an inconvenience. For us, it meant we were completely stuck.
My son Chris is in a 350 lb wheelchair. Without an elevator, there was no way down. No backup plan. No easy solution. Just a crowded, overwhelming situation with no clear way forward.
We stood there, unsure of what to do next.
And then we met Officer Mears.
And everything changed.
He didn’t just point us in a direction or give us instructions. He didn’t rush us or treat us like just another situation to manage.
He stepped in fully.
He personally walked with us—block after block—searching until we finally found a working elevator inside Kmart. He stayed with us the entire time, making sure we were okay, never once making us feel like a burden.
But he didn’t stop there.
He escorted us all the way to the LIRR, went ahead to find out our track before the rush of commuters even knew, brought us down safely, and set up the ramp so Chris could board the train without being overwhelmed by the crowd.
He thought of everything.
Every step of the way, he made sure my son was safe, comfortable, and treated with dignity.
Along the way, he shared that he had worked with people with disabilities for six years before becoming a police officer.
And you could feel it.
His patience.
His awareness.
His kindness.
It wasn’t just training—it was heart.
In a moment that felt stressful and overwhelming, he gave us calm. He gave us help. He gave us reassurance that we weren’t alone.
That night, he didn’t just help us get to a train.
He moved a mountain.
Officer Mears—thank you for seeing us, for walking beside us when we needed it most, and for showing what true compassion looks like in action.
You reminded us that even in difficult moments, there are still people out there who care deeply… and that makes all the difference."
Credit: Monica Ward Scharrer
If the U.S. were to walk away from this war at this very instant, it would still be the greatest American victory we've seen in decades. If we go further, there's no telling the extent of our triumph. I'm merely thankful for the obvious success that's been achieved thus far. Anything else is gravy.