PUTTING OUR PEOPLE “IN HARM’S WAY”

NEGA News ^ | 2-3-03 | Dave Nelson

[Engine82]

PUTTING OUR PEOPLE “IN HARM’S WAY”

On Saturday morning, seven human beings disintegrated over the state of Texas while attempting to reenter the earth’s atmosphere at a speed of twelve-thousand miles per hour. Everything had to be just right; otherwise, the intense heat would destroy the spacecraft and its occupants.

As it turns out, everything was not “just right”, and the nation mourns.

We can question. We can second-guess. We can criticize. One thing, however, we must not forget, as those brave seven no doubt never did. Their mission, no matter the number of previous successes, was a complicated one, fraught with danger. Yet they chose to…no, fought to… take the risk.

Whatever happened to the valor of risk-taking? Facing danger. In fact, whatever happened to the word “danger”?

I’ll tell you. Like many good and simple and descriptive words, it has been replaced by a politically correct euphemism…”in harm’s way.” Listen to the politicians and the reporters. Everything today has to do with putting people “in harm’s way”, or keeping them “out of harm’s way.”

Perhaps it is a spillover from the government’s paternalistic attempt over the past half century to protect us from the dangers that go with launching out, experimenting, taking risks, and facing the mistakes that we might make. In short, the government has taken upon itself the responsibility of keeping us “out of harm’s way” and protecting us from our own decisions.

As a result, from education to healthcare, employment to retirement. birth to death, we have been conditioned to look to the government for solutions. If something goes wrong, it has to be somebody else’s fault, because we didn’t do ANYTHING.

If we learn nothing else from Saturday’s disaster, let us remember that seven brave, adventurous human beings looked at danger and never flinched.

As Americans, let us remember that we did not become a great nation by hiding behind trees, wringing our hands, and whining about the poor hand fate had dealt us.

If the seven could speak to us today, they would urge us to fix the problems and move on. They would kick “harm’s way” out of the way, reminding us that there are still risks to take, dangers to face, and frontiers to conquer.

We owe them that legacy.

Ó2003 Dave Nelson

[metesky]

"If we die, we want people to accept it. We're in a risky business, and we hope that if anything happens to us it will not delay the program. The conquest of space is worth the risk of life."
-Gus Grissom (John Barbour et al., Footprints on the Moon (The Associated Press, 1969), p. 125.)

[Rescue1]

"The most dangerous thing about space flight is the time between liftoff and landing"

John Young