I'm back.

Expect more to come.

Happy Easter!

Enjoy your Easter and relax.  There is no Sunday Scribble today.

Sunday SCRIBBLE: FAILURE IS NOT AN OPTION!

I so dropped the ball this morning.  I wrote this and didn't post it.  My bad.  Here - for your reading pleasure......

The Sunday Scribble:

FAILURE IS NOT AN OPTION!  

It has been 44 years since the incident of Apollo 13. For those of you unfamiliar with Apollo 13 – watch the movie.  One of the oxygen cells blew while the crew was on its way to the moon.  The rest of the mission was scrubbed; NASA and the crew struggled to get home before the space ship they were in failed completely.   NASA called it a successful failure because no one died during the mission and despite the mission not getting complete; they were able to return everyone home. 

When we look at our world, we see amazing accomplishments.  We see large towers, massive projects, mankind overcoming nature.  If they happen here or somewhere else, we are still overcoming those obstacles, and it has cost us a lot at times.  We have lost ten astronauts in our quest for space.  Others died during construction phases, research and development and we have learned some harsh lessons since Alan Shepard said “LIGHT THIS CANDLE” nearly fifty years ago. 

Great nations make great things happen.  Great leaders make great things happen.  There needs to be a driving force to make great things happen – it won’t be done by committee.  Or at least it shouldn’t be because a committee will have no clear direction.  In our world we often overlook the power of what one individual can do.  We overlook what one person can do. 

Remember it was one boot stat first walked on the moon.  It was a single person who went into space first.  Individuals sticking it out there on the far end of the envelope, not pulling it back at the first sign of a bump – that’s what makes this country great.  It doesn’t matter if you are an astronaut traveling thousands of miles an hour towards a heavenly body or man or woman sitting on your back forty thinking of what you will seed, with what kind of seed.  These risks are LIFE!  They are what make us great, the INDIVIDUAL.  Yeah sometimes we fail.  But our greatness is our OWN! 

I made this – not just for me – but for you too.  We all enjoy the benefits of those who died risking their all as they crossed the void of space.  We enjoy the benefits of the space program and the innovations that came into our life.  A healthier life, an easier life, better medicines and better ways of living; all these came from the space program.  

I am a bit on a soap box today.  I think we need to do more space travel.  Get off this ball of rock and explore our solar system, terraform Mars.  Set up habitats in space; expand the human footprint before the next big dinosaur killer size asteroid impacts the planet – or just too free up impending social unrest from not enough resources.  Getting into space will teach us how to make energy with little or no impact on the environment, grow more abundant food, and build massive monuments to humanity in the form of factories in space, stations for families to live in and a universe to spread out into.  All these things can be accomplished.

Failure is not an option – unless you let it be.  Be the individual to hang it out over the edge.