Last week Thursday morning was a snowy one in NYC. I headed to the airport knowing that my 11:15 a.m. flight from NYC to New Orleans via Charlotte would likely be delayed. I had not anticipated that it would be cancelled. When I attempted a kiosk check-in and discovered that it had, a ticket agent booked me on a later flight—yes, the one that ended up in the Hudson River. It was only after I inquired whether there wasn’t some way for US Air to deliver me to New Orleans faster that another ticket agent stepped in and said, “Route her through Washington, D.C instead of Charlotte.” But for that agent’s intervention, I would have ended up with very wet feet last week.

 

Ever since the financial system started to really go belly-up last September, we’ve had more than enough opportunities to become disgusted with humanity. We’ve seen financial wizards who have bankrupted their institutions. Although they’ve taken federal hand-outs some Wall Street execs argue that they still have a right to multi-million dollar bonuses. We’ve seen one money manager’s Ponzi scheme crash, leaving hundreds of people’s financial security thoroughly wiped out. And we’ve seen auto executives stupidly use corporate jets—not one but three separate ones—to fly into Washington D.C. in search of their own handout.

 

Last Thursday we did witness a miracle. The perfect landing of a crippled jet on the Hudson River, an incident from which everyone walked away virtually unscathed, was nothing less than wondrous. It was also a demonstration of what happens in our country every single day: Good and honorable people go about doing their jobs and helping others with very little fanfare.

 

The bankers, Wall Street chieftains, and auto execs could learn a lot from US Air Flight 1759’s survivors, including how to put one’s own self interests on the back burner for the greater good.