The courage to stand up to liars

Recently, my wife and I drove to see relatives in eastern Pennsylvania. On the way, we took a detour to the Flight 93 Memorial and Museum in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, that honors the passengers who took on the hijackers of their flight on 9/11, knowing that they would probably die in the attempt.

Before entering the museum, we were viewing a diorama that showed the general layout of the area. There were several women there, just off one of the tour buses. It is a very quiet, somber setting.

As we viewed the diorama, a man walked up to the women and stated that what they were looking at is not what really happened, that he has a "buddy" who knows a "guy" who "works on the inside" who knows that the "government" shot down Flight 93 to cover up the truth. And that the government realized they needed "heroes" to conceal the government involvement.

My first reaction was to vomit, and secondly, I wanted to kick this man in the face! But he looked like someone who could be armed, and I'm ashamed to say I didn't challenge him.

Later, when we resumed our drive, I wished I had confronted him, at the top of my lungs, exposing him for what he is; one of many right-wing conspiracy nuts who are destroying our country, one lie at a time.

I should have begged him to tell us his source ... was it a "buddy," Fox News, Alex Jones, Steve Bannon, QAnon? Yes, I might have gotten shot, but when are we going to stand up to these purveyors of deceit and dishonesty?

Next time, I hope I will have the courage to do so.

Tom Dillivan

Schaumburg