Opinion: At the end life, the spiritual is what matters most

Years ago I served as an emergency response volunteer with United Airlines, trained to stand with families if a plane ever went down. The call never came, but the training never left. When an airplane falls from the sky, part of me still listens for the families. On Sunday, Nov. 1, a Learjet fell out of a wall of thunderstorms over South Florida, and nine people who had set out that morning for warm water and the ordinary goodness of being together did not come home. Two little ones who should have had sand between their toes by suppertime, friends who said yes to a birthday celebration trip, a nanny who went along to care for the kids, and two pilots who got up on a Sunday morning and went to work. The videos were out almost immediately. I watched. I listened. Knowing what I know about airplanes, I grimaced. My stomach knew before my head did. The first officer was 20 years old.

This excerpt comes from the named source. Read the original for the full reporting.