Courage (Space Shuttle Columbia)

Eject!Eject!Eject! Weblog ^ | February 15th, 2003 | Bill Whittle

[Taxman]

You are welcome. I was very, very moved by Bill's comfort with the language and his ability to "paint a picture" with his words. A keeper, for sure.

[Taxman]

Agreed, Luis. The man does have a way with words, doesn't he?

[Taxman]

YOu are welcome, Bob. A keeper.

[Taxman]

Luis, I enjoy everything you have written that I have read. Man, you have a gift, and you polish and use it very well, indeed. Thank you.

[Taxman]

Somehow a humble "Thanks" does not seem enough, Luis. Your tribute to the Challenger, and all of the "rocket men" is most eloquent.

I have never seen a live launch. Someday! I'll stand on the sand and watch one.

[leadpenny]

Thanks for posting this and thanks for the ping, Taxman.

[leadpenny]

At 36. Thank you for sharing your perspective.

[Skeet]

A truly excellent read. Thanks for the ping.

[Cboldt]

Outstanding. Heartwarming and bitter-sweet, all at once.

[TheBattman]

That is because most of them are watermelons; green on the outside and red on the inside. People that are damaging our space program severely.

Actually, I think damaging our country would have been a more accurate statement.

[Taxman]

You are most welcome. I think it falls into the "must read" category.

[Taxman]

Thank you for your perspective, RA. You have been where many of us cannot go, and seen, done things that many of us cannot see or do.

I had a FRiend a few years ago whose little company was hired by NASA to transcribe (he and his partner were court reporters) the radio transmissions for the first Lunar Landing. He had some fascinating stories to tell. He was a good story-teller, in the "Quiet Birdman" tradition.

Secondhand information and observations are not as good as being there, but they are far better than not knowing at all. Sounds like you may have the workings of a good book. Give it a whirl.

[Aracelis]

Sounds like you may have the workings of a good book.

LOL, I keep telling him that very same thing! :^)

[Lando Lincoln]

I have re-read this splendid essay and it is, as others have similarly noted , beyond my meager ability to describe. That this could be authored by someone so relatively young is truly remarkable - first because the emotions expressed required identification prior to penning the essay. Then, to express them so magnificently is, well, truly remarkable.

The essay is obviously about the courage and indomitable spirit in rare people - especially Americans. But, I thought there was something else brilliantly woven into the essay. It's worth re-captioning. Near the end, Bill Whipple says:

But there are people who scare me - people who scare me very badly indeed, because these people have the power to kill this idea we call America.

We have turned our children's minds over to certain people who are so bitter and angry, so hateful of the country that gave them birth and safety, that their poison now fills our college campuses and has overrun entire communities. These are not loyal dissenters who rightfully question the policies of our nation, but small and diseased people who cannot understand why their fantasy ideologies are never in vogue, who can see nothing noble or magnificent on their foggy and dim and very close inner horizons. People whose anger and envy have driven them to turn all virtue into an ironic smirk, people who react to strength and morality with the revulsion born of a lifetime of failure and dark plans for revenge on the happy, the confident and the self-reliant.

I fear these people. I hate them. I hate them because they can kill our confidence, corrode our will, poison our history and make us believe we are the base, savage and dismal society they see through their cataracts of failure. These people can kill America. And they are determined to do it if we let them. And the one thing they mock and spit on, the one trait they despise above all others, is the physical and moral courage they have never known, and that is the leaden nugget of self-hatred.

There are people - Americans - who would turn this into the Land of the Guilty and the Home of the Terrified. We cannot let them do this. We simply can not.

These words are absolutely brilliant in their eloquence. Whittle speaks so splendidly to what has made and what makes this country so great. But, his words of "fear" are chilling to me. Much more so than any terrorist threat. It is within our ability to meet any physical threat. But, should we ever lose our ability to identify evil for what it is through the equivocation of values.....God help us!! I pray God continues to bless America, the American spirit, and those brave people who will defend her from enemies foreign and domestic. We must.....

Never forget!

[Taxman]

Well said, my FRiend, well said.

We must be Eternally Vigilant!

[Taxman]

Well then, sweetie, keep encouraging him to WRITE THAT BOOK!

[PeaceBeWithYou]

Another possibility emerges.

Scientists Seek Clues in Solar Storm That Enveloped Shuttle

Remeber my tin foil Cuba particle beam theory? How about a solar particle beam?;-)

[Publius6961]

BUMP!

[Jen]

There are people - Americans - who would turn this into the Land of the Guilty and the Home of the Terrified. We cannot let them do this. We simply can not.

Thank God for FR and FReepers!

[The Shrew]

Thanks for the ping! Why this isn't a 2,000 post thread shows a definite 'QC' problem at FR. ;-) Well, we will just have to ping it a little harder to get it there!

It is an outstanding read! My KUDO's to Bill Whittle!

Regards,

TS