Kevin McCullough
Monday, Feb. 3, 2003

"The shuttle just exploded," said the voice on the other line. "Everyone's dead."

Excusing myself as quickly as I could, I fumbled till I found the remote. I was just beginning to see the first few times those shots of the white hot streaks 39 miles above north Texas as the shuttle disintegrates in midflight.

Understandably, everywhere I went on Saturday, as I was in attendance at the annual C-PAC conference, people were huddled around every television set. Some five hours later, the president addressed the nation, and in rhetoric similar to that of Ronald Reagan, President Bush seemed to bring a sense of understanding and sensitivity to the nation.

We began to learn who they were, these brave seven who ventured where so few have ever dreamed of. Yet somehow because shuttle missions have been performed some 113 times, we yawn at the idea of the next launch and merely assume that these individuals are little more than fancy plane pilots. The truth is they aren't, and their years of preparation go far beyond the ambition of getting off the ground.

And on a very real level these astronauts served their country and this world with the same dedication as a soldier who defends us or a policeman who protects us. To those who do not understand America, her progress, her history or why she must still lead in the world today, the profundity of this moment may be lost. In the papers across Europe and the Middle East, criticism, if not pure sarcasm and hatred, is being poured out at America, even in light of this tragedy. In the European paper The Independent, Andreas Whittam Smith goes so far as to say that in quoting from the Bible, President Bush proves, "This religiosity, as we would describe it, suggests that in a way Americans consider themselves a chosen people." And while Londoners were merely rude and indignant about our nation's leader in the midst of this crisis moment for us, those in the Middle East including but not limited to Baghdad showed open contempt. "We are happy that it broke up," said Iraqi government spokesman Abdul Jabbar al-Quaraishi. "God wants to show that his might is greater than Americans. They have encroached on our country, and God is avenging us!" No doubt in days, weeks, and months ahead there will be vigorous debate over whether the continued exploration of space should be pursued. My own perspective on it goes something like this, though. As long as there are opponents on this globe who believe that when tragic things occur to us, it is to somehow justify their murderous systems of dictatorial control, then we must never stop. Learning about new technologies always involves great risk and frequently loss. There were men buried alive in Hoover Dam in Arizona, knowing that as it was being built there would be no way to retrieve them if they were to fall and become stuck. But the ability to get Hoover completed allowed the western portion of our nation to receive electricity and store energy. We already know much about what we do about terrorists because of our satellite technologies. To keep them current, we must continue to access them, to repair them, and yes to own them. To cut off research, to move backwards at this time, at this junction, is unwise and must be prevented. We mourn today because we are civil. As a society we house within ourselves compassion for the families of these brave men and women. We are saddened because we value the meaning of life. We are in essence creatures created by the God who created the stars, and in being so we reflect pieces of who He is. To call that "religiosity," or to give credence to the idea that this was God's judgment against the U.S. for pursuing the ideal of ridding the world of terrorism, flies in the face of what God is about. There is evil in this world, but it did not reside on the face of our president Saturday as he said his prayers, for our fellow friends to find their way to the God who made them. Kevin McCullough is found weekdays from 3 to 5 p.m. on AM 1160 WYLL, a 50,000-watt station in Chicago.

Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:
Bush Administration
George W. Bush
Shuttle Disaster
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