Around Christmastime, everyone’s rushing here and there, agitated, sometimes even a bit angry, as they juggle a hundred things ahead of the holiday.
And that’s what makes what happened in Nashville on Saturday truly remarkable.
Hundreds of people were packed into the airport awaiting their flights when an airline attendant announced over a loudspeaker that children of fallen service members were boarding their flight. The kids were being flown to Disneyworld on an all-expenses trip.
Everyone in the airport stopped as “The Star Spangled Banner” was performed, with soldiers saluting the children. The busy travelers stood quietly, some with their hands on their hearts.
“I witnessed an international airport come to a complete stop today,” Jen Tringale wrote on Facebook.
“At the Nashville airport I walked out into the concourse to this scene @americanairlines was flying a plane full of children who had lost a parent in combat to Disneyworld on an all expenses paid trip and they threw a party for them at the gate.
“But when they announced them over the loud speaker and they lined up to board the plane the whole airport literally stopped and sang the national anthem with military present in salute. Most every person standing around, myself included was bawling at the sight of these kids and spouses who have paid so great a price for our country. To see all of this at Christmas time was so humbling. Seeing the general public in an airport stand still to honor these kids was simply beautiful,” she wrote.
Watch the video below: