sheer potentiality

So I have this big thing I have to do for English, right? Retrieval charts. Basically, I have to write five page reports on books and stuff we read, going into detail about themes and irony and all those literary issues. And I have to do several of these. The class before mine was horrifed by them, and now I’m horrified…

I’m also tutoring this sophomore for algebra and trig. It’s not that bad, money is money, but it’s not as much money as it used to be, I’m doing less hours. But it’s all right. Time is money.

I own a Starfleet uniform. You know, from Star Trek. It’s a First Contact/late DS9 style, command version. I’m tempted to wear it to school. I think I will, late in the year, on a relaxed kind of day. Near the end of the year. Close to graduation. Or maybe the Friday before Spring Break. Yeah, that’ll be cool.

I’m starting Hamlet in English. Which I’m rather happy about, because I like Shakespeare. We just finished Great Expectations by Charles Dickens in that class. Dickens is fine, but it seemed to me that Great Expectations has good characterization and very little of anything else. There was a plot, and it was clever, but not too interesting. The theme seemed to be the silly class warfare stuff that was written in 19th century England and ought to stay there. Shakespeare is good, though. Stephanie thinks so too. She doesn’t always have good taste, particularly in music, but she likes Shakespeare, so I guess she’s all right. (Incidentally, she likes Shakespeare more than I do. She also acts. People who act tend to like Shakespeare.)

It just occurred to me today over dinner that those who devote their lives to exploration and discovery have always risked their lives to their cause. I’m reminded of the voyage of Magellan, who was the first to circumnavigate the globe. He began his voyage with 270 men and five ships. At the end of the voyage, Magellan had died along with all but 18 of his crew, who returned aboard the only remaining ship, the Victoria. But ultimately, it isn’t the vessels or the men that matter–it’s the mission, the everlasting mission of exploration that defines the human existence. To lose men and vessels in exploration is tragic, but we must still remember that three years after setting sail, the last remaining ship of Magellan’s expedition had been the first to circumnavigate the world! This expedition, despite losing its leader, four of its five ships, and 93% of its crew, was a success! Luckily, we have not lost nearly that much in space. Of the five shuttles we have sent in space, Columbia and Challenger have been destroyed, and fourteen astronauts have been killed. Discovery, Atlantis, and Endeavour survive to continue the mission.

After Magellan’s voyage, more and more expeditions circumnavigated the globe until we reached the point where it is commonplace and safe to travel all the way around the world. But without Magellan, there would be no global travel. That is why it is important for us as a people to explore the reaches of space. Some say it is already commonplace to travel into space in back, but it remains true that there have been only a few hundred trips made into space. A number of them didn’t make it. But we must continue, because if we do, travel to and from space will be as common as travel to and from distant continents. As soon as we gain that, it will be clear that the price paid by our explorers will be worth it. Our travels into space must continue.

As you probably know, this morning, the Space Shuttle Columbia was destroyed as it reentered the Earth’s atmosphere and descended to land. All seven crew members are dead, including Israel’s first astronaut, Ilan Ramon. Columbia was the first fully operational shuttle built. Her first flight was STS-1 on April 12, 1981. The photograph on the opening page of philwelch.net is of that historic launch.

It is in memory of Columbia and her crew that I am, for a short time, dedicating this website. Not only to them, but to the ideals of discovery and exploration that they stand for, and for the ideals that those brave seven died for this morning.