Lisa Beamer’s strength

Lisa Beamer: Yes, he spoke to Lisa that day. And I’ve always been thankful that I didn’t speak to him. I wasn’t surprised that he didn’t call me. I was home alone with the kids. And as I talked to Lisa later on, she said he went back and forth quite a few times whether he wanted her to connect him to me or not, because she could have done that. But he said he didn’t want to upset me unnecessarily. He was worried about the baby. And he was just trying to do the right thing. He was just trying to do what he could to get out of there. And he thought Lisa would be better able to help him do that than I would, and he was right.

In his 15 minute conversation with Lisa Jefferson, Todd described the desperate situation on board — and asked her to tell his family how much he loved them. It was Lisa Jefferson who heard him utter, “Let’s roll” to a fellow passenger as the counterattack began. Four days after 9/11, the two Lisas spoke. And over the past year, they have stayed in touch.

Lisa Beamer: You know, if it wasn’t for Lisa Jefferson, I wouldn’t be here talking to you right now. I wouldn’t, you know, have a book. I wouldn’t know for sure what had happened with Todd. You know, I’m in her debt forever.

Stone Phillips: If you could have spoken to Todd that day on the plane, what would you have said to him?

Lisa Beamer: What would I wish I had said to him! I think truly, I would have been very hysterical. But I guess I wish that I would have been similar to what Lisa was to him, just very calm and said, you know, ‘Todd, you’re going to do the right thing here. I trust you. I love you. And you’re going to do what you can do and you’re going to make a difference.’”

Lisa Jefferson also told her that before he put the phone down, Todd asked her to recite the Lord’s Prayer with him.

Stone Phillips: You say you believe that when he recited the part about ‘forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us,’ that in some way, in some sense, he was forgiving the terrorists?

Lisa Beamer: I believe that in that moment, he was trying to get his heart right and know that he was in line with the person that God would have wanted him to be before he took some serious action.”

Stone Phillips: Can you ever forgive the hijackers?

Lisa Beamer: I don’t think about them a lot. You know, bitterness and anger doesn’t get one very far in life. And I won’t allow it to seep in. I won’t allow someone else’s terrible actions to turn me into a person that I don’t want to be. Whether if I could, you know, sit down next to Osama bin Laden right now, would I say, ‘I forgive you?’ I don’t think so quite yet.

What Lisa Beamer focuses on these days is trying to inspire people to follow in the footsteps of her husband, and the other Flight 93 passengers — to fight back, and give back. She started the Todd Beamer Foundation to help children affected by tragedy.

So far, the foundation has raised more than $3 million. But in the end, this famous widow would just as soon fade into anonymity and honor Todd’s memory by raising his children well.

Stone Phillips: What’s the hardest part of each day now for you?

Lisa Beamer: Not being able to call Todd and say, ‘Hey, guess what? David swam across the pool today. Or Morgan rolled over. Or did you hear that funny thing that Drew just said?’ And I have choices every day when something like that happens to just fall apart and just be incredibly sad that the grief... that is an automatic thing or to say, ‘You know what? David did swim across the pool. And that’s a great thing. Good for you.’

Stone Phillips: How do you plan to mark the one-year anniversary?

Lisa Beamer: I’ve actually struggled with that a lot — different opportunities to go to Shanksville or go to a memorial somewhere. And nothing quite seemed like the right thing to do. And I looked at the calendar a few days ago and I realized it was my boys’ second day of pre-school. I thought, ‘That’s where I should be,’ just doing the normal things that they need me for, the normal things that I’d be doing had this not all happened. Todd would want me to be there with them. So I’m just going to do a day with my kids.

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