Reflections on a Hijackingby Jeff Ritchie The events of September 11, 2001 and the hijacking I experienced on February 11, 1993 have almost nothing in common except my initial reaction to each: "This cannot be happening -- can it?" 1993: When I heard the captain of Africa-bound Lufthansa flight 592 announce our hijacking over the intercom, I found it difficult to believe he was serious. He spoke in a calm, matter-of-fact voice, "Ladies and gentlemen, there is a passenger on board who does not want to go to Cairo. He has a gun pointed at my head and has demanded that we turn around. I have no choice but to do what he says. We are heading for Hanover, Germany where we will refuel, and then head across the Atlantic for New York." That was all he said, and we passengers thought this must be some kind of sick joke. 2001: When I first heard the announcement of the attack on the World Trade Trade Center, I was attending a meeting of the Board of Trustees of The Outreach Foundation, one of three Validated Mission Support Groups within the PC(USA), of which I am Assistant Director. We had just finished a breakfast for some of the pastors in the Atlanta area and were on our way to conclude the Board meeting at First Presbyterian Church in Atlanta when we passed a television monitor in the hallway of the church showing live coverage of the attack. In 1993 I had found it difficult to believe my ears. Now I found it difficult to believe my eyes. These horrific actions belong in a terror novel, not real life! 1993: After the announcement of our hijacking, we who were passengers started wondering out loud what was going on. The man across the aisle from me reached into his canvas knapsack and pulled out a book, What to Do When There is a Terrorist on Board. He said that the travel agent gave it to him as a joke. He read excerpts such as, "When you first get on the plane, look around and see if anyone looks suspicious." We all laughed. Except for the time that we refueled -- when we thought that the plane might be stormed by German police -- and at the end of the trip at Kennedy Airport -- when we wondered whether or not the hijacker would actually give himself up -- it was, fortunately, a rather uneventful day. I had some moments of prayer and conversations with Christians whom I met because of the hijacking. Otherwise, I read, slept, and ate throughout the long day. For my wife, Megan, the day was anything but dull. Not knowing what was going on as our plane flew over the ocean, all she could do was wait, pray, and fend off reporters who tried to get her to cast the hijacker as an "enemy." In the light of the September events, it is sadly ironic that she was relieved to know the plane was heading for New York and not some out-of-the-way place as hijacked planes often had been directed prior to my hijacking. In an article about my 1993 ordeal I said that the ‘might-have-beens' never happened: no passengers were injured or taken hostage. The hijacker, a 20-year-old Ethiopian, had no political agenda. He had merely wanted to deal with some personal problems by going to America in an unorthodox way! When the hijacking was over, our family could even laugh about the television reporter who was so desperate for news that she interviewed our children during which time our dog breathed into the microphone! 2001: There was nothing funny about "9-11." As disaster after disaster unfolded that morning, The Outreach Foundation finished its meeting, but our hearts and minds were elsewhere. Trustees phoned home to see if relatives, friends, or church members had been casualties. Alternate plans for returning home had to be made. One of our Trustees, Dr. Fahed Abu-Akel, who is originally from Palestine, visited Muslims in their homes and prayed with them as they feared to go out of their homes. Since "9-11" we have been made aware that this world is not a safe place, that great evil is at work in the world, which would thwart the purposes of God. But we do not despair. Rather, we live with the hope expressed by John Calvin. "Our hope is in no other save in Thee; our faith is built upon Thy promise free" (Presbyterian Hymnal #457). And we affirm that God's mission will be accomplished according to the vision of the prophet Habakkuk: "For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea" (Habakkuk 2:14).
Jeff Ritchie
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