The recent Columbia Space Shuttle explosion is one of those events in my life which I will remember where, and what I was doing. I was driving north of Mendocino, CA - USA on an old highway in a thick forested area. Radio reception is poor there, but the one FM station I could get had a brief clip on it. (No AM stations available) I was quickly wishing that I were in a better area. On the other hand, maybe I was lucky to hear about it where I was. I could digest the information without subjecting my emotions to a constant barrage of news, media images, and sound bites. While stopping at a small town grocery store I broke the news to a young girl at the cash register. She was surprised and then told me that her Grandpa's brother was one of the Apollo 7 Astronauts. Go figure. Six Degrees of Separation? (Columbia University link on related experiment).
My original plan was to drive through a Redwood tree. An "Adventure" that I have dreamed about for the last 20 odd years after watching Black & White 16mm filmstrips in elementary school. It was not to be. I didn't have the appetite for it, the Columbia Explosion weighing on my mind.
RoadsideAmerica.com on drive thru trees(new window)
Review of drive thru trees by Outwest Newspaper(new window)
One of the highlights of the rest of my US Tour is to see a Space Shuttle launch in person. Now, I'm wondering if I will be able to do this. I hope the US does not delay a shuttle launch for 2.5 years like we did after the Challenger Shuttle incident. I don't like how the US media sensationalizes and dramatizes death (I can't speak for other cultures or countries). Many (Not all) newscasters talk about it as if death isn't supposed to happen. And if they don't do it, the way the information is presented repeatedly does it, beit the music or graphics. Un-necessarily spreading ideas of fear and danger. Try this -- if you're sitting in an office, stop --- look around. Short of any biogenetic medical advance, in approximately 100 years everyone around you will be dead. "Obvious to be sure", but a little mind blowing if you stop to think about it. In a little more than 100 years every living person on the earth will be dead. 6 billion dead people. How's that for a news headline? Every living thing except some remarkable trees (Like the Redwoods I just visited among others) and a few turtles (If man doesn't destroy them first) will be "dead". Everyone dies, what are you going to die for? Knowledge, Buddha, money, Jesus, science, Allah, sex, Shiva, family, power, greed, "God", pursuit of pleasure, fame, . . . .the list is endless.
I joke with some friends that - I will consider myself fortunate if I complete my trip and return home in one piece while breathing at the same time. They say be careful. I say - I'm just going out in the world to "live." I'm living! Some people I know are already "dead," even while "living." We should honor these astronauts who have passed, they do not die in vain. But, let us not overglorify or sensationalize their deaths. They lived - let their accomplishments testify to that. There are many more like them (astronaut or not) who will pass on without a squeak from the media.
We should not let the search for knowledge be overcome by fear. - WC
Shed a few tears, show some humor, but soldier on and press forward. For we will all suffer the same fate. Will we "live" or "die" before we say goodbye to this physical world? There may be an afterlife, there may not. I am being mindful of my own fears, ignorance of many, and the greed of others before I make my decision. The one thing I am sure of, is that the world around us, beckons me to see it for myself in all of its living glory. Life is "dangerous." Go live.
Animal life spans
1. Giant tortoise: up to 200 years
2. Human: up to 122
3. Sturgeon (a type of fish): up to 100
4. Blue whale and golden eagle: up to 80
5. African elephant: up to 77
My original plan was to drive through a Redwood tree. An "Adventure" that I have dreamed about for the last 20 odd years after watching Black & White 16mm filmstrips in elementary school. It was not to be. I didn't have the appetite for it, the Columbia Explosion weighing on my mind.
RoadsideAmerica.com on drive thru trees(new window)
Review of drive thru trees by Outwest Newspaper(new window)
One of the highlights of the rest of my US Tour is to see a Space Shuttle launch in person. Now, I'm wondering if I will be able to do this. I hope the US does not delay a shuttle launch for 2.5 years like we did after the Challenger Shuttle incident. I don't like how the US media sensationalizes and dramatizes death (I can't speak for other cultures or countries). Many (Not all) newscasters talk about it as if death isn't supposed to happen. And if they don't do it, the way the information is presented repeatedly does it, beit the music or graphics. Un-necessarily spreading ideas of fear and danger. Try this -- if you're sitting in an office, stop --- look around. Short of any biogenetic medical advance, in approximately 100 years everyone around you will be dead. "Obvious to be sure", but a little mind blowing if you stop to think about it. In a little more than 100 years every living person on the earth will be dead. 6 billion dead people. How's that for a news headline? Every living thing except some remarkable trees (Like the Redwoods I just visited among others) and a few turtles (If man doesn't destroy them first) will be "dead". Everyone dies, what are you going to die for? Knowledge, Buddha, money, Jesus, science, Allah, sex, Shiva, family, power, greed, "God", pursuit of pleasure, fame, . . . .the list is endless.
I joke with some friends that - I will consider myself fortunate if I complete my trip and return home in one piece while breathing at the same time. They say be careful. I say - I'm just going out in the world to "live." I'm living! Some people I know are already "dead," even while "living." We should honor these astronauts who have passed, they do not die in vain. But, let us not overglorify or sensationalize their deaths. They lived - let their accomplishments testify to that. There are many more like them (astronaut or not) who will pass on without a squeak from the media.
Shed a few tears, show some humor, but soldier on and press forward. For we will all suffer the same fate. Will we "live" or "die" before we say goodbye to this physical world? There may be an afterlife, there may not. I am being mindful of my own fears, ignorance of many, and the greed of others before I make my decision. The one thing I am sure of, is that the world around us, beckons me to see it for myself in all of its living glory. Life is "dangerous." Go live.
Animal life spans
1. Giant tortoise: up to 200 years
2. Human: up to 122
3. Sturgeon (a type of fish): up to 100
4. Blue whale and golden eagle: up to 80
5. African elephant: up to 77
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