Reaching Out
Posted on Jan 27, 2010
On the first Sunday in February the space shuttle Endeavor is scheduled to liftoff for the international space station. As the NASA program has matured and space travel has become routine, it is hard to remember that we are closing in on the 50th anniversary of the first manned, orbital space flight. Former Senator and astronaut John Glenn’s career at NASA included both that first orbital mission and a shuttle flight. In his public talks, Colonel Glenn often reflects with the audience about the elaborate planning that preceded his groundbreaking three orbit flight.
Due to the extremely limited history of manned space flight in the early 1960’s a great deal of crisis planning and “worst-case” thinking accompanied the preparation for each launch. John Glenn knew that the first minutes of his flight were among the most dangerous and that after launch his initial flight path would cross a number of primitive cultures. The astronaut approached his flight team with the suggestion that perhaps primitive tribesmen would be totally unprepared to see a silver-suited man fall from the heavens and he suggested that he’d like to carry some simple phrases to allow communication! The linguists immediately went to work to prepare the typical cliché phrases, which according to the astronaut followed the theme … “come in peace … take me to your leader … big reward!” In the process of working on the translations an interesting insight struck Colonel Glenn. In the languages of each primitive culture the words for “stranger” and “enemy” were always the same!
In our culture we sometimes approach strangers with skepticism as we attempt to discover our common interests and values; however, we seldom assume a posture of implied enmity. I’m thankful for our approach. It is difficult enough to be a stranger! As we gather tonight for our open house and dinner to support financial assistance needs at RPDS, let me encourage you to get to know a stranger in our school community. This habit is also easy to practice in the stores you frequent, in your neighborhood or within organizations to which you belong. The stranger you meet may become the best friend you are longing for.
