Of Exploration and Human Spirit
(Quotes from Ronald Reagan - video link)
"And I want to say something to the schoolchildren of America who were watching the live coverage of the shuttle's take-off. I know it's hard to understand, but sometimes painful things like this happen. It's all part of the process of exploration and discovery. It's all part of taking a chance and expanding man's horizons. The future doesn't belong to the fainthearted; it belongs to the brave. The Challenger crew was pulling us into the future, and we'll continue to follow them."
Each generation likely has a national or international moment that will stay with them. On this 20th anniversary of the Challenger disaster [10:40 am CST, Jan 28, 1986], it is one of mine. If it's one of yours, where were you? I remember watching the news that morning before school in 1986. I was in 7th grade. They said the launch would not happen because of ice that had formed on the wings so I sadly went off to catch the school bus and hoped it would launch later when I could see it. Then the fateful words from our teacher about what had happened and the wheeling in of the large TV cart to our classroom to view the post coverage. A snapshot in time that is hard to forget.
Here's to all the astronauts that so many live vicariously through, specifically in rememberance of Michael Smith, Dick Scobee, Judith Resnik, Ronald McNair, Ellison Onizuka, Gregory Jarvis, and the first teacher, Christa McAuliffe.
"The crew of the space shuttle Challenger honored us by the manner in which they lived their lives. We will never forget them, nor the last time we saw them, this morning, as they prepared for their journey and waved goodbye and 'slipped the surly bonds of earth' to 'touch the face of God.'"
"And I want to say something to the schoolchildren of America who were watching the live coverage of the shuttle's take-off. I know it's hard to understand, but sometimes painful things like this happen. It's all part of the process of exploration and discovery. It's all part of taking a chance and expanding man's horizons. The future doesn't belong to the fainthearted; it belongs to the brave. The Challenger crew was pulling us into the future, and we'll continue to follow them."
Each generation likely has a national or international moment that will stay with them. On this 20th anniversary of the Challenger disaster [10:40 am CST, Jan 28, 1986], it is one of mine. If it's one of yours, where were you? I remember watching the news that morning before school in 1986. I was in 7th grade. They said the launch would not happen because of ice that had formed on the wings so I sadly went off to catch the school bus and hoped it would launch later when I could see it. Then the fateful words from our teacher about what had happened and the wheeling in of the large TV cart to our classroom to view the post coverage. A snapshot in time that is hard to forget.
Here's to all the astronauts that so many live vicariously through, specifically in rememberance of Michael Smith, Dick Scobee, Judith Resnik, Ronald McNair, Ellison Onizuka, Gregory Jarvis, and the first teacher, Christa McAuliffe.
"The crew of the space shuttle Challenger honored us by the manner in which they lived their lives. We will never forget them, nor the last time we saw them, this morning, as they prepared for their journey and waved goodbye and 'slipped the surly bonds of earth' to 'touch the face of God.'"
I can remember it vividly as well. Actually, it serves as one of my earliest memories and is played in my mind as if it was yesterday.
I was in Kindergarten and 5 years old. I was staying with Kathy Moore at their home in Dennis before school and she and her husband were watching the news with me and their small girls. The girls and I were sitting at the kitchen table eating cereal when we saw the lift-off...and then the tragedy that immediately followed. For a 5-year-old, that's pretty intense to understand, which I didn't until years later. But even then I knew that innocent people had died trying to launch America into a new century of discoveries.
Isn't it interesting how we all remember the same events, yet we understand them in completely different ways? Good post, Dust.
See you in 10 days!
ang
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Anonymous |
2/01/2006 8:26 AM