A Sign of Good Things To Come

Whether or not you believe in omens or signs, you have to be amazed at the landing of an airliner in the Hudson River this past week. The pilot and co-pilot both seemed to have remained calm and their training kicked in. Within three and a half minutes of the birds flying into the engines and losing all thrust, the pilot decided he could land the plane in the Hudson River. Now, the Hudson is NOT a river you'd like to take a dip in any time of the year... and certainly not on a frigid January morning. It's a miracle that the circumstances all came together perfectly to enable the plane to land (or to river, as it were) without loss of life and, it seems, without serious injury to anyone on the plane or in the river.

That, in itself, could be called miraculous. But to me, the real miracle is this. Within minutes of the incident, there were three boats (two ferries and a tug, if I recall correctly) helping passengers to safety who had been standing on the wings of the plane in the icy water.

To me, this is a metaphor for the situation the world is in right now. The global economy has frozen up, the high flying economies of the world have lost all upward thrust. A few quick thinking individuals are doing their best to steer the economy to a soft landing. You get my point.

But there's another part to this metaphor. The three boat operators who came so quickly to the aid of the airliner in the river. I'm assuming there are no emergency practice drills with boat operators in the Hudson River that encompass pulling frozen, scared, wet airline passengers out of the river. There may be new emergency procedures after 9/11, but it's hard to fathom it included this scenario. Regardless, those three boats saw a plane skidding into the river and headed over to help.

The lesson: There are a lot of unknowns in front of us, things we have never experienced and can't adequately prepare for. However, we can apply what we do know to new situations and create a successful outsome. More importantly, perhaps, is that when we work together, we can mitigate a potentially disasterous situation. Had those three boats not arrived quickly, there may have been more serious injury due to hypothermia or even drowning. Instead, everyone worked together to help those in need and the outcome became a shining example of what can go right when things go wrong.

Something to ponder in the days ahead. One by one and all together, we can make a difference.

Now go out there and have a great day.