penmage | (no subject)

It's not that there's nothing more to say - on the contrary, there's too much to say, too much to write, that it's almost impossible to begin. They were extrodinary people.

I went to the memorial ceremony today. It wsa very tasteful, very meaningful and well done. Dean Bacon spoke, appropriotly and well as always, and then seven students had prepared biographies of the seven astronauts. When the girl reading Ilan Ramon's biography began, she started to cry, and had to forcibly compose herself to finish. There was no small amount of tears in the room. We watched a video presentation, also well done, said some tehillim, and that was it. Short, meaningful, good.

They were extrodinary people.

canthlian was complaining that people make a big fuss when famous people die, and brush off the deaths of ordinary people. To some level I agree with him. But here, this is a different story. It's one thing to make a fuss when someone famous dies. It's another to make a fuss when someone extrodinary dies, someone special. These seven people were special. They did something few people do; they were brave, they were talented, they rose above. I hate to generalize - I never met them, I don't know what they were like in person - but they were definitly extrodinary, and they will be missed most sorely.