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“What
Do I Tell the Pilot?”
By Lucianne
Goldberg
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have never known anyone quite like her, this silky, brilliant, incandescently
lovely, ferocious, charming woman. Barbara Olson, a heroine in life, a
heroine in death, was murdered Tuesday morning in the blazing crash of
a highjacked airliner exploding against the side of the Pentagon. The
last words phoned to her beloved husband, Ted, were, "What do I tell
the pilot to do?"
How like her to demand
to take charge, to make things better, to set things right. That was the
way she lived. But, this was not a head-to-head debate with some closed-minded
suit. This was no TV show where a flick of her wheat shiny hair or crinkle
of her cornflower eyes could turn away the savage wrath. Her brilliant
mind, clicking to the last, could do nothing to save her life.
Barbara Olson was
passionate about her beliefs and fearless as a mother tiger. She loved
this country and loathed its detractors and despoilers with a relentless
zeal. That was why she was on that plane — off to another venue to
protect and defend what she held so dear. She had delayed her flight so
as to have breakfast with her husband. It was his birthday.
The energy with which
this girl-woman lived her life, the patriotic fervor with which she advanced
and protected her deeply held beliefs leaves a shimmering example of what
it means to be an American. On a personal level, one could know no more
loyal friend, no sweeter advocate, no gentler, stronger soul.
She leaves behind
a husband she adored, grandchildren-in-love she doted on, her legal career,
her published work, her two big fluffy dogs, and a home she had built
as a leafy redoubt to shelter them. She had more loving friends than any
of us will have in a lifetime. Hers was a life lived in full but only
by half. She was only 45.
To have had this
sunny, funny, happy soul in our lives has enriched us all. To lose her
in such a horrible, blinding, sickening flash of hatred and evil sickens
the heart and seals the determination to use her life as an example of
how it should be lived. And, as our bodies shiver for revenge, revenge,
revenge against those who took her from us so early, so soon, we must
look to her bravery as guidance for our own behavior. She would have wanted
us to do. She would have told us to square the shoulders, lift the chin,
and never, never, never give up doing the right thing even as our hearts
ache with loss and anger.
Goodbye, Barbara. Hello, new angel. You shall not have died in vain.
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