What gossip have you heard about yourself that just isn't true?

Many years ago. I was a flight attendant for Pan Am.

Most airlines are unionized, and our's was IUFA, the Indenpendent Union of Flight Attendants. Having a union didn't really help us in the long run; Pan Am still hired foreign nationals that they paid a miserly $200 a month.

One of them, Neerja Bhanot, was the purser aboard Pan Am's Karachi flight in 1986. The airplane was boarded by terrorists, but the cockpit crew got out of the plane, grounding it.

Neerja saved the lives of several Americans and threw herself across three children to protect them from a hail of bullets, and died.

Being a union member was very important to the 6,000 Pan Am flight attendants. We had been Teamsters prior to forming our own union, but the IUFA was started by flight attendants, and run by flight attendants.

One year, a lot of us were laid off for a few weeks, and just before Pan Am announced the hiring of foreign nationals, we went out on strike. We picketed in downtown Manhattan.

The last protest I had been to was at my high school when all the seniors had a 'sit in' to change the dress code. The girls didn't want to be forced to wear skirts and dresses, anymore. Eventually, we succeeded in changing it. You're welcome, Levi Inc.

One flight attendant came up to me a few days after we went back to work and told me she'd heard I'd offered to work during the strike, that I had crossed our picket lines. This is what's known as a 'scab', an ugly word for someone who does that.

Fortunately, I had a good friend who was vice president of the union, who knew I hadn't.

I knew it too, but it didn't feel good being accused of it. Be very careful what you believe or say about someone.

Accusations are like fires; they can be started by anyone, put out by someone else, but their smoke lingers on, fouling the air.

Neerja Bhanot:

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