Altered Forever

In the light of the September 11th terrorist attacks in New York, the lives of millions of people have been altered forever. Rescue workers, bereaved families, politicians, New York residents, to name just a few.

But amongst all the sympathy, all the pain and all the threats of revenge, it is easy to forget the tragic plight of the literally thousands of victims who have been completely overlooked.

The every-day hijackers.

Who would do a thing like this?

Only last week, I was practically reduced to tears by the tale of Osorkan Akhbar, a Libyan currently residing in London, who recounts the heartbreaking tale of how his livelihood has been cruelly taken away.

Non-Violent

Akhbar, a regular hijacker of planes for non-violent purposes, has effectively been run out of business by Mohammed Atta and his colleagues. "Nobody takes me seriously anymore", he told us, "All I want to do is hijack a plane so that I can divert it back home to Libya. But before I can even tell the passengers to remain calm, a dozen people have jumped on me, pinned me to the floor and started beating me with my own box-cutters. It's not fair. Those selfish bastards have ruined it for honest-to-goodness hijackers like me."

"I've never had any intention of flying a plane into a building or anything like that." he claims, "Just a quick diversion or maybe even a plea for asylum, that's all I've ever been interested in. But now look at me - I'm only 34 and already, my career is over."

Akhbar continues, quietly sobbing into his beard: "And do you think the government is going to offer me a special pension for my troubles? Not a chance. I have a wife and two children to look after and without a couple of innocent hijackings a year, I've got no way of supporting them. The media will tell you all about the problems the tourism industry is facing but they'll never mention the hijacking industry. That's where the real problems lie,".

As with any human tragedy we have a moral duty to try and help people like Osorkan Akhbar.

Perhaps you have a plane you could give to this worthy cause? Or failing that, maybe just some spare change to ease the suffering for children of harmless hijackers everywhere.

Please... please... give what you can.