McGrief vs. the dark night of the soul

Charles Lindberg - a quintessential American - electrified the

whole world in 1927 when HE DID IT ! - boldly flew across the

formidable Atlantic ocean , landing in Paris to the cheers of a

wild, adoring crowd. Not for nothing he named his famous plane

" The Spirit of St. Louis " . That SPIRIT became the spirit of

NASA, especially in the early days of the space program.

       John F. Kennedy - who oddly reminded people of Charles

Lindberg early in his political career - inspired the titanic,

national project of landing a man on the moon.

        Lindberg -like JFK, like the USA - had a dark side.

    The human soul needs a challenge ,needs to wonder and dream

more than it needs mere comfort and security.

         If I were a complete pauper , I would not begrudge

the NASA space projects. They help keep the Spirit of St. Louis

alive. Nice to know that human beings can arise above the level

of bean counters, that not a few of us do indeed have the right

stuff.

         The seven astronauts of the space shuttle Columbia -

killed Saturday - all had the right stuff.

         The Israeli hero  showed that the human spirit can

rise again even from the ashes of the Holocaust.

          A lot of the grief expressed by public officials

sounds a bit canned to me. I call this phenomenon " McGrief ".

            We like to believe in a personal god. And many of

the astronauts claimed to be devout Christians.   I suspect that

we strain our sanity by believing in God as grand maestro of

the universe.

        Where was the Lord of the O-Rings , I wonder, when

the Challenger exploded ? Reagan was president back then. I

was touched by his speech to nation after that tragedy.

         After the Columbia exploded Saturday -and it was certain

the precious crew was lost - George W tried to imitate the Great

Communicator .  His speech was a flop, canned McGrief.

        Perhaps a great leader at such times might wisely

imitate the silence of God. In long dark night of the soul, we

wait - wait for Godot ?

         Oddly enough you can feel grief for a mere thing. When

I first learned that there was a  serious crack in the Hubble

telescope,   it was like hearing that God Himself lost an eye.

        Our scientists fixed it.