Listening to talk radio is often an exercise in hearing over and over the problems our country faces...but this last week I for some reason forgot to follow my regular listening pattern and ended up hearing a part of Sean Hannitys show... He had a guest Albert Rizzi a man blind since 2006 who along with his guide dog were removed from a flight from Philly to Long Island because the Flight attendant said that he and his dog were being disruptive. Hannity had two other guests who were sitting next to and in front of Albert and Doxy his seeing eye dog. They recounted how this flight attendant made a normal scene into one in which the plane returned to the gate and Albert was kicked off the plane,...but what followed was what touched me. When the pilot came back to see what the uproar was about, the passengers demanded that Albert be re-boarded and the flight (which was 1 hour and 45 minutes delayed anyway) be continued. When he refused to let Albert back on board, the passengers again demanded that he be allowed to board... At this the flight was canceled and all the passengers got off the plane... Albert said his humiliation and sadness was second only to the day he went blind...he described how his interrogator confessed that when he boarded to remove Albert, the scene was nothing like what he had expected. Instead of finding a man yelling and a dog out of control, he had found the dog sleeping under the seat of the woman next to him...and Albert calmly trying to reason with the flight attendant. In the end all 43 people got off, and came to his aid...Mary the woman next to him and another passenger were witnesses of the horrific mistreatment Albert received at the hands of US Airways and its staff. They offered to rent a car to take Albert and Doxy home to Long Island, but when the Airways chartered a bus to take the whole group, Albert politely refused to go any other way but on the bus with those who had stood by him. It was an inspirational story of people who even tho they needed to get home, stood up for principle and did the right thing. When Albert was asked if he was going to follow up this event...(implying a lawsuit) his reply was that he was going to invite all of them to a celebration banquet to express his gratitude for their goodness and support.. I think that 20 minute segment was one of the most inspirational radio moments I can recall. On the Hannity show no less..whoda thunk it?.
Posted on: Sun, 24 Nov 2013 23:48:16 +0000
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