Heroes
What is a hero? Is it an idiot that pretends to wrestle in tights? Is it a moron that drives a racecar in a circle and kills himself plowing into a wall? An actor on TV or movie? No, I don't think so. Most heroes don't have a name. They get up every day and do things that are heroic, not for fame and fortune, but for exploration, for science, for medicine, for everyone. And few know their names until...
Why, would someone jump willingly into a tin can full of explosives? I know lots of people that say they would, but faced with it in front of them, would they really? I would.
The seven astronauts that died on Saturday, did you know their names before then? How about the crew that flew the mission before? Did you even know the shuttle had launched on the 16th or that it was landing Sat? Does that mean you don't care? No, I don't think so. It just gets out of your mind with everything going on. And space flight is safe right?
Space flight is too dangerous and should be stopped...with that thinking then we shouldn't have policemen. How many of them are killed every year? Or fish and game officers, they have an even more dangerous job. How about the most dangerous job there is, Alaskan crab fishermen? would you give up your crab legs? If we wait until space flight is perfectly safe, we might as well stop trying. We may have had to force or trick a monkey into a space capsule, but astronauts jumped in willingly, even knowing the dangers.
I see the old debate about sending humans into space is flaring up again. Why send up humans when robots can do it? Why climb Mt. Everest? Why explore the oceans? Why didn't Columbus throw a bottle in the ocean and wait for someone on the other side to reply? It would have been safer. Man can NOT sit and wait for things to happen, they must make them happen. Unfortunately, there is always a price that is paid with the blood of heroes.
We should never stop imagining. We should never stop exploring. We should never stop reaching for more, reaching up into the heavens, or we risk our humanity