My wife loves the movie Apollo 13. We have seen it many times through the years and it never stops inspiring us. Ok, we know how it ends and yet we sit at the edge of our seats as we watch the events re-enacted. We are there with the brave men in space. We are there with the brilliant engineers on land. We are there with the family as they agonize over what is taking place in front of the nation.
The movie captivates us because it brings out the best in everyone. The reason I'm reflecting on this now is that I pray our nation is not "Melting into Mediocrity." Have we stopped dreaming of greatness. According to http://www.jfklibrary.org/ "In 1961 President Kennedy understood the need to restore America's confidence and intended not merely to match the Soviets,[who had just launched Sputnik] but surpass them. On May 25, 1961, he stood before Congress to deliver a special message on "urgent national needs." He asked for an additional $7 billion to $9 billion over the next five years for the space program, proclaiming that "this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before the decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth."
Although I wasn't born at the time I can hear the skeptics now because Mediocrity by nature doesn't change. "There are more important things in which to spend the money." Or the oft repeated, "It can't be done." Yet because of this dream of rising above mediocrity, less than a year later, John Glenn (from Ohio!) orbited the earth. "Glenn's success helped inspire the great army of people working to reach the Moon. Medical researchers, engineers, test pilots, machinists, factory workers, businessmen, and industrialists from across the country worked together to achieve this goal."
On July 20, 1969, the Apollo 11 astronauts—Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin Jr.—realized President Kennedy's dream.
I know things are different now. But I have to ask, Where are the dreamers? Have the needs of today so burdened us we cannot dream of the impossible. Have we, have I, melted into mediocrity? I want to spend more time dreaming. Then I want to inspire others to dream. It costs nothing to dream, it costs everything not to.
