My thoughts and condolences are with the friends and families of the crew of the Space Shuttle Columbia who were lost this morning.
And also they are with everyone at NASA who are dealing with the sudden tragedy that struck out of the blue, stealing friends family members from them as well.
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I wish that I had words that we eloquent and fitting enough to capture my feelings about this tragedy. I recall where I was on that day in 1986 when the Challenger was lost during take off. I remember where I was on 9/11/01 when I learned of the WTC. I will add today to my list of days remembered for tragedy. If only I was able to remember with as much clarity the days of joy and happiness. I do remember the day I first met the girl who would steal my heart. I remember the first time we kissed about 4 years later, and I remember the day she told me she Loved me. I need to remember these things and hold them closer to my heart then the tragedies I endure.
That is the secret to survival. And to whoever reads this I say to you: Keep heart. There are great things in this world.
If you don't believe me...take a look in the Mirror.
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16:36
Shortly after I posted my own thoughts I received this from a close friend. His are words of eloquence that I want to preserve and so I post them here now.
Thank you Mike.
--Another Moment of Hell--
We have lost another crew of heroes today.
We have watched another smoky flower bloom, leaving behind a trail of pollen that will engender questioning and lies, that will bring fear, sadness, distrust, and horror.
How many of you already feel betrayal, by God or by fellow man? Or just by fickle fate that whimsically reminds us of our fragility? The things that insulate us from the source of our fire sometimes break us, burn us with that fire to leave nothing but streaks of ash and bits of broken shell.
But out of that fire, from that broken shell,
always another phoenix must arise. Never can we let ourselves be frightened from our path, washed from it by tears of grief or heat of anger--To be kept by accident from filling the empty void with our dreams and our lives.
It is a tragedy of proportions, not an epidemic of disasters. Because there are so few flights and machines do we take such sad note. Yet, if we compare to the number of cars or even planes, it is not such a great amount of destruction and loss of these things.
But it
is a great amount of destruction of our hopes, and loss of our dreams. But
because there are so few flights, machines, people to do this daring thing--of exiting the air and diving again back into it's fire--it
is a tragedy, of human proportions.
--Michael Elliott
(a.k.a. Amberwolf)
This is dedicated to those who died for Columbia's phoenix, this first day of the second month of the third year of our new millenium:
-Shuttle commander Rick D. Husband
-Pilot William C. McCool
-Payload Commander Michael P. Anderson
-Mission Specialist David M. Brown
-Mission Specialist Kalpana Chawla
-Mission Specialist Laurel Clark
-Israel's first astronaut, Ilan Ramon
