you know...

Life hands you so many small gifts. And some of them you get despite yourself, whether you want them or not... and whether or not you realise that it's a gift before you receive it, you're lucky if you recognise it as a gift in retrospect. This isn't making much sense to anyone yet, I know, because you don't have the references I do. But, let's just say that the day when you look at something that would have been crippling a short time before, and laugh, and then realise the amount of healing that had to take place to let you be able to laugh, is a great day.

Don't let anyone form your opinions of yourself for you. No matter how talented, how gifted, how wonderful, someone else is, no-one's infallible. Everyone's got blindnesses, everyone's got biases. Before you accept anyone's judgements as bedrock reality, ask yourself whether you can accept their biases as your own, and whether you'd want to live their life if you could. If the answer's no, then you're better off making up your own mind. Actually, you're better off making up your own mind anyway. Here's to healing, and growth, and self-confidence.

Unforgotten.

APOLLO 204 CREW

Virgil "Gus" Ivan Grissom, Lieutenant Colonel, USAF, 1926-1967

"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."


Edward Higgins White, II, Lieutenant Colonel, USAF, 1930-1967

"I think you have to understand the feeling that a pilot has, that a test pilot has, that I look forward a great deal to making the first flight. There's a great deal of pride involved in making a first flight."

Roger Bruce Chaffee, Lieutenant Commander, USN, 1935-1967

"Probably the greatest thing a man can say to himself, or have as his philosophy when he has to tackle a tough job, or make a big decision, is the first eight words of the Scout Oath: On my honor, I will do my best..."


STS-51L CREW

Francis R. Scobee, Commander, 1939-1986
Michael J. Smith, Pilot, 1945-1986
Judith A. Resnik, Mission Specialist 1, 1949-1986
Ellison S. Onizuka, Mission Specialist 2, 1946-1986
Ronald E. McNair, Mission Specialist 3, 1950-1986
Gregory B. Jarvis, Payload Specialist 1, 1944-1986
Sharon Christa McAuliffe, Payload Specialist 2, 1948-1986



High Flight -- John Gillespie Magee, Jr.

Oh, I have slipped the surly bonds of earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds...and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of...wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there,
I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air.
Up, up the long, delirious, burning blue
I've topped the windswept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, or even eagle flew.
And, while with silent, lifting mind I've trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space
Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.

Inspired by zibblsnrt.