Monday, February 02, 2009

"This is all I wanted to bring home..."

Yesterday was Super Bowl Sunday, so I was remiss in marking an important anniversary, as well as its cousin anniversary a few days prior. I wanted to take a brief moment to remedy that:

6 years ago yesterday, my phone rang at 8 am. It was a Saturday morning and I was in college, so naturally I had only gone to sleep about 4 hours prior and my head was still swimming with the previous night's alcohol consumption. But the call was sobering.

It was my mother. NASA had lost the Space Shuttle Columbia on re-entry.

I don't really have much to say about it. Unfortunately, as we push the limits of human potential, tragedy inevitably lurks. And while it is important to never let it deter us from our aspirations, it is equally important to remember those who give their lives in pursuit of something greater.

So I thought I might request a brief moment of blogosphere silence for the brave men and women of the Space Shuttle Columbia, the Challenger, Apollo I, and their countless predecessors whose wings were melted by the sun as they strove to "slip the surly bonds of Earth and touch the face of God."

...

Today's song lyric, in this humble occasional blogger's opinion, is from the most poignant song written about the Columbia, because it's not only about the disaster, but also about mortality in general. If you haven't heard it, I strongly advise you to remedy the situation.

"The radio is on and Houston knows the score
Can you feel it? We're almost home
Yeah yeah yeah yeah
The crew compartment's breaking up"
- the Long Winters, The Commander Thinks Aloud

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home