Houston, We Have A Problem.
Well, I was going to post about my snow boarding trip out to Hunter mountain and the bagging of my Christmas tree, but yesterday's disaster has taken the wind out of my sails. I have been reflecting today on the sacrifices that people make to push the envelope of human knowledge and experience. It takes a lot of guts and a whole lot of passion to strap yourself to a rocket in the name of science and humanity. Especially when you know that there are no guarantees that you will make it back. Yesterday, we lost a seven of our best and brightest and I am deeply saddened. Space truly is the final frontier. Although loss of life is inevitable as humankind attempts to discover just what is up there, I wish that didn't have to be the case. I leave you with two poems about space.
We are the Stars which sing.
We sing with our light.
We are the birds of fire,
We fly over the sky.
Our light is a voice,
Our light is a voice,
We make a road
For the spirit to pass over.
--Algonquin Indian
I know I am mortal, a creature of the day;
Yet in spirit I accompany the wandering stars as they
circle round the Pole.
Through my foot no longer touches the earth. By the
side of Zeus himself
I share the meal which preserves the Gods themselves in
immortality.
Ptolemy (c. 2nd century AD)
Posted by Pernicious at February 2, 2003 5:54 PM