I must say I watched with amazement this past week as rescuers saved the passengers and crew of the US Airways flight which landed in the Hudson River. While watching, I was proud, very proud of my fellow countrymen.

These past years have seen a severe blow to the confidence of the world and especially Americans. As the financial leader of the world, we watched in horror as our banking system brought the world to its knees. AIG, the largest insurer in the world based right here in NYC had to get bailed out by the government. Our automakers came begging for money to our politicians. A single US investment fund worth an estimated to be $50 billion in size was a Ponzi scheme. Our regulators seemed to be asleep at the switch and myriad other problems which signal as a country we have lost our way.

The news has been so negative lately with layoff and bankruptcy talk that it is tough to even watch it.

So when something positive happens – where people come together and help others and save lives, it is worth sitting down, taking a deep breath and reveling in it. After all, positive events rarely make the news… Let’s enjoy it while we can.

You just have to give tremendous credit to the pilot and crew for landing on water and getting the passengers out safely. I often fly in the exit row and when the flight attendant starts the speech about the water landing I am usually in a fog of last-minute email downloads and not paying attention. I always think to myself a water landing is not something you typically walk (swim?) away from.

I was proven wrong and I am thrilled to be incorrect.

So as a nation and indeed as a human race, let’s all sit down and relax for a moment. We did something really amazing. We saved people’s lives. We made positive news and now people are calling it a miracle. Hopefully we inspired people and made them feel better about themselves and where their lives are headed.

I get the feeling if a few of us can come together and do this, billions of us acting in unison can do anything. Just remember this feeling when the airline news becomes passé and your regularly scheduled negative programming returns.