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My tribute:
http://www.cei.net/~rhendrix/lego.html
-Rob
"Anthony Sava" <savatheaggie@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:H9o0wo.E9u@lugnet.com...
> I felt compelled to say this, I know that messages like this are a dime a
> dozen, so I really don't expect to be heard. I felt compelled to say what • is
> in my heart regardless.
>
> I would have put this in an Off-topic, since it really doesn't relate to • LEGO,
> but there is no lugnet.offtopic.statement. My apologies if I offend • anyone for
> not placing this elsewhere.
>
> I read today on a forum a reply to a post about the Columbia (it wasn't
> Lugnet), and though I would have better luck addressing the author of that • post
> on that forum, I feel my message has a better place to be seen, in this
> community of ours.
>
> The author asked why we would consider the crew of the Columbia heroes, or • even
> hype it up as we have, that hundreds and thousands of people die every • week and
> we don't flinch. What makes the shuttle accident so much more special, • why do
> those lives mean more than others. How do we know that the crew became
> astronauts not to better mankind but did so for the glory of it all? The
> author was flamed and I even think his reply and the thread it started was
> removed by a moderator.
>
> But he did have a good question. And in the end, at least as far as I'm
> concerned no life is more important than any other life. No one person
> deserves to live more than another, and every death should hurt us all.
>
> But of coure it doesn't.
>
> We are hurt more by the deaths that are close to us than those half-way • around
> the world, and I fault no one for it. It is only understandable that we
> Americans would be so much more effected by the deaths of seven astronauts
> than those of a few dozen train accident victims or the starving poor in • other
> countries.
>
> And we here in Houston, in the Clear Lake area feel especially close to • NASA
> and the space program. If I were to climb my roof, I could see the old • rockets
> of the Johnson Space Center. It's only ten minutes away from my house, • and
> that's counting driving through the entirety of my subdivision.
>
> I went to an elementary school named after one of the victims of the • Apollo 1
> fire. In that same elementary school I witnessed the death of the • Challenger
> crew so many years ago. Today I looked down the street and saw that very • same
> elementary school just hours after learning of the Columbia accident. My
> father has spent over 35 years of his life working with NASA on the space
> program. He worked on every single Apollo mission, and three Space • Stations.
> My father lead the team that designed the life support ring's computer and
> systems for the Saturn V rocket. My father sat aboard more than one • Apollo
> module to make sure those systems worked, as he likes to say, his • fingerprints
> are on the moon.
>
> We here in the Clear Lake area feel especially close to the Space Program. • I
> have astronauts as neighbors, I have NASA technicians as family friends. • My
> barber has a signed photograph of almost every male astronaut that has • ever
> trained at JSC hanging on his walls.
>
> But are those people that died today aboard the Columbia heroes? That is, • of
> course, up to the individual to decide. But before you make a decision, • you
> really should think about it. We like to automatically put the name • 'Hero' on
> anyone who's death brought about change or had some special signifigance, • but I
> say we are a little to free with that word. It's lost some of it's • meaning I
> think. We said that the people who died in the World Trade Center were • heroes,
> and personally I disagree. No, I don't like what happened, and I grieve • for
> those who died and their families. But there was nothing, by my • definition
> anyway, 'heroic' about being in the wrong place at the wrong time. • There's
> nothing 'heroic' about dieing in a train or starving to death on the other • side
> of the world, IMO.
>
> According to my dictionary, a hero is someone who is greatly admired or • shows
> great courage. To me, a hero is someone who does something that is not
> required, and does so in spite of the risks involved.
>
> Now I don't know why the seven people aboard Columbia became astronauts. • I
> have no idea if they did it to better mankind, or to challenge themselves, • or
> to reap the fame and glory. But does it even matter?
>
> To me, NASA and the space program mean a lot more than just an enterprise • to
> explore space. To me, the Space Program represents something that is • severly
> lacking in this world - the realization of dreams into reality. How many
> children today want to become astronauts? How many of you wanted to be • one
> when you were younger? I think a better question would be how many people
> DIDN'T want to know what it would be like to be thrust into space at some • point
> in their lives. We have so few things anymore in this world that inspire
> people, so few things that represent a dream that is achievable.
>
> I know that America's space program is what it is today not because we • wanted
> to explore, but really because we wanted to do better than the U.S.S.R. • But to
> me, it has evolved from what it was to what it is now, a place of dreams.
>
> I think the words of JFK ring true more so now than they did when he said • them.
> I don't remember the exact quote, but it was something like: We do not • choose
> to go to the moon and do the other things because they are easy, we choose • to
> do them because they are hard.
>
> So what does it even matter why the astronauts became what they were? If • they
> wanted to better mankind, or challenge themselves, or even to reap the • fame and
> glory, they all had the dream to do so, they worked hard for it, and they
> achieved it. We dream to return to the moon someday, we dream to go to • Mars.
> And mankind will make it there, it is only a question of when, perhaps not • in
> my lifetime. This is why I say, to me, the space program means more than • just
> the exploration of space, but the realization of dreams.
>
> The crew of the Columbia knew the risks when they signed up. They knew
> something could go wrong. They went up anyway. The went in spite of the
> risks. For whatever reason that they went, they went just the same.
>
> So are they heroes? I'd like to think they are. They weren't in the • wrong
> place at the wrong time, they volunteered to be where they were. They
> understood the risks. The accepted what might happen to them.
>
> But to me, they didn't go up astronauts and come back heroes. To me, they • were
> heroes before they were shot up into space. They represented the hopes • and
> dreams of thousands of people, and though they died, those hopes and • dreams
> remain.
>
> For Heroes may fade away, but dreams will never die.
>
> So this is my response. We pay so much attention to this horrible • accident
> because they were heroes. While their lives mean no more than any other • lives
> lost today, or yesterday, or all the days that have or will pass, the • dreams
> they took with them into space are more valuable than any gem or treasure
> known. And though they did die, those dreams will live on, beyond this • event,
> and beyond our lives as well.
>
> I can only hope to be so fortunate as they, to be so close to heaven when • it is
> my turn to become just a memory, and pass my dreams on to others.
>
> --Anthony
> Lugnet member #1312
> http://www.ozbricks.com/ikros
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Message is in Reply To:
 | | Dreams will never die
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| I felt compelled to say this, I know that messages like this are a dime a dozen, so I really don't expect to be heard. I felt compelled to say what is in my heart regardless. I would have put this in an Off-topic, since it really doesn't relate to (...) (24 years ago, 2-Feb-03, to lugnet.general, lugnet.loc.us.tx, lugnet.org.us.texlug) !!
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