A little Senna story

As most of you reading this know, I'm an airline pilot.  My job requires that I work with a variety of different people from many different backgrounds.  Every now and then, I get to work with someone from the country of Brazil.  A handful of trips ago, I had such a person as one of my flight attendants. 

One night, we were all piled in a quiet and dark hotel van with our watches showing well past midnight.  Not much was said as it had been a particularly long day of bad weather and delays upon delays.  Without any lead in, I turned to our Brazilian flight attendant and asked, "So, you're from Brazil?"  With her eyes half open, she nodded and said, "Yes."  I then asked, "So, you would know of Ayrton Senna, right?"   Her face lit up.  Her eyes now wide open.  She looked as if someone just gave her a brand new car.  "Aye!  Sennaaaaa!" she said. 

Unlike me, she wasn't even a big racing a fan, but to her 'Senna' is one of those names...  One of those immortal names.  One that remains fresh and treasured in her memory, as he does in many of ours, regardless of our country of origin. 

We spent the rest of the ride to the hotel talking about Ayrton and how much he meant and still means to Brazil.  Of course we spoke of his superhuman driving, but we we also talked about the level of determination in everything he did.  We spoke of the millions of dollars he gave to help children, and how that mission is carried on today by the institute that bears his name.  We spoke of the recent movie and how he is credited with personally saving the life of racing driver, Eric Comas.  She recounted watching his funeral precession in person, with unrelenting detail.  

What had been a dark and quiet van ride to a hotel, late at night, somewhere in suburban American, had turned into an amazing and unexpected tribute to the man himself, nearly 20 years after his tragic death.