Like all Americans, I watched in horror as the events of September 11th
changed our lives forever. The Flight Across America project began out of my
deep compassion over this tragedy.
The Flight Across America's intent is to honor those who died, uplift those
who survived, and to create a space for healing to happen and hope to be found.
At first, my task was to get pilots involved, and I received e-mails from
pilots from across the country and even oversees, wanting to do something to
honor the victims of this tragedy, to try and re-unite our country using
aviation to heal. In the act of flying, pilots would be standing up for our
freedom to fly that is so precious to us.
In the past few months and particularly since I started flying across the
country August 11 in the Spirit of America, the Flight Across America message
has reached out beyond the aviation community and touched many people. In the
coming days, we'll be presenting some of the stories that I've received.
The flag bearers we have selected will start their journey this weekend. Each
will carry their home state flag to the New York City area, arriving September
7th. These flags are a symbol of the prayers, hope, and well wishes of the
American people.
Firefighters are housing some of our flag bearers as they move across the
country. Schoolteachers are telling our story to their classes and we are
speaking to children; reminding them of the preciousness of our freedom and the wonder of flight.
The Flight Across America is about being American. With our freedoms and
solidarity in tact, at the same time we honor our losses, we hope to help our
nation heal, and we have great hope for the future of our country as a united
people.
Thank you for sharing my vision of hope, healing, and freedom. Please explore
all the information about this project here on our website and I hope that this
opens up new possibilities for who we become as individuals, as a nation and
ultimately, as a world.
Sincerely,
Molly Peebles,
Executive Director
Flight Across America
August 28, 2002
St. Louis, Missouri
