The best out of the worst

As more details emerge, it becomes clear that Thursday's events are worth pondering...

Looking for this week’s classic American tale? Forget the rise of Barack Obama. It’s the fall of Flight 1549.

Captain Chesley Sullenberger III faced a scenario that would embarrass the writers of “24.” A packed plane, both engines out, over America’s largest population center, with no place to land but a nearly frozen river.

Sully did it, and then stood so calmly on the floating jet afterward he could have been handing out drink vouchers for the club room.

It’s tempting to dismiss Sully as an exception rather than the rule. But what about the actions of the terrified passengers - 150 strangers thrown together in a metal tube hurtling toward the water?

If you believe the worst about Americans, you’d expect Thursday’s crash to create a mob of greedy, selfish jerks clawing away for the first shot at an exit. Instead, passengers reported that it took just a single cry of “Women and children first!” and total strangers facing possible drowning stepped aside to let mothers and their infants pass.

And after the crash, the first responders weren’t government rescue workers, but nearby passenger ferries... No waiting for approval from an attorney or checking the “rope-to-rescuers” ratio in the regulations. Just Americans helping others in need.