I'm actually kind of surprised....
I've been reading about the US Airways plane that made a water landing, and as I've been doing so I've been looking for a very specific word.
Miracle.
So far, I've seen only one person quoted using this word, Governor Paterson: "We have had a miracle on 34th Street, I believe we now have a miracle on the Hudson." Mayor Bloomberg, even President Bush, seem to have avoided using it, which makes me happy. Why? Because "miracle" is way too overused. It gets thrown around all the time when something terrible could have happened but didn't.
If the waters of the Hudson river had transmuted themselves into tarmac to allow the plane to land safely, that would have been a miracle. If a school of fish had swarmed around the sinking plane, picked up passengers and carried them to safety, that would have been a miracle. If the engines had healed themselves, started up again and allowed the plane to carry on, that would have been a miracle.
The survival of all the passengers and crew on that plane was due to the hard work and dedication of the crew, who trained for emergencies like this, that of rescue workers who came out to help, and the selflessness of the other passengers, who haled each other despite hypothermia-inducing temperatures. To call it a "miracle" is to utterly dismiss the human achievement that goes into surviving such an incident.
So, if you hear someone talk about the story and say, "Well it's just a miracle that they all survived," do me a favor and smack them.
Miracle.
So far, I've seen only one person quoted using this word, Governor Paterson: "We have had a miracle on 34th Street, I believe we now have a miracle on the Hudson." Mayor Bloomberg, even President Bush, seem to have avoided using it, which makes me happy. Why? Because "miracle" is way too overused. It gets thrown around all the time when something terrible could have happened but didn't.
If the waters of the Hudson river had transmuted themselves into tarmac to allow the plane to land safely, that would have been a miracle. If a school of fish had swarmed around the sinking plane, picked up passengers and carried them to safety, that would have been a miracle. If the engines had healed themselves, started up again and allowed the plane to carry on, that would have been a miracle.
The survival of all the passengers and crew on that plane was due to the hard work and dedication of the crew, who trained for emergencies like this, that of rescue workers who came out to help, and the selflessness of the other passengers, who haled each other despite hypothermia-inducing temperatures. To call it a "miracle" is to utterly dismiss the human achievement that goes into surviving such an incident.
So, if you hear someone talk about the story and say, "Well it's just a miracle that they all survived," do me a favor and smack them.