An Allegiance to Keep U.S. Traveling

Christopher Reynolds, always insightful, eloquent, concise and delightfully funny, has outdone himself with his article (“Looking Back, Going Forward,” Dec. 30). His comment regarding the “remarkable bargain” that is “struck every time an American pledges allegiance” is the clearest description I’ve seen of what last year meant to us as Americans.

Susan Spano’s comment about how empty it was to have no airplanes in our night sky also struck a chord. Tears streamed down my face on the first night after Sept. 11 that I could look out my Marina del Rey window and see the “string of pearls” on final approach to LAX. Man dreamed for many thousands of years of the miracle of flight. It is not a privilege to be given up easily over threats from self-righteous, twisted minds.

Although neither writer gave advice on whether Americans should travel, as an American who does not work in the travel industry, I feel free to encourage everyone to travel. It is as much an act of patriotism and compassion as donating to the Red Cross, and the results are more immediate.

The airline captain who greeted me in the jet bridge 11 days after Sept. 11 will keep his job if you and I keep flying.

The maid in the New York hotel will keep her job if you and I keep traveling. The friendly and helpful man at the rental car counter at Albuquerque airport, the busboy in Kansas City, Mo., the man in the gift shop at the Metropolitan Museum in New York all will keep their pride and their jobs. They will know we support them if you and I keep traveling.

And you and I can stand up, look in the face of hatred and ignorance and make it clear that it may have horrified us, but it did not terrorize us. We Americans remain airborne and mobile; we remain productive and alive. We remain free. We win.

DEBBIE KEIL HOLTSCLAW

Marina del Rey