The Gifts of Apollo

This video has really got me thinking recently.  I have been really sad since the last space shuttle mission, and what that means for our country and species.  Before I was even born, we landed men on the moon, and since that point in time, we have never gone back.  And now, we are no longer able or planning on sending people from our own country into space.  That is something which is very sad to me.

Without even that overall thought process to provoke us, I really love the end of this video.  It shows the current budget for all of the world’s militaries right next to the total budget for all of the world’s space programs.  For me the difficult answers we face are very easy to be solved.  We have a large amount of resources, and we have some big problems and issues.  I know which one’s I would pick out, and send our best and brightest to fix.  It actually seems much simpler then anyone ever make it.  I think it is time we refigure out our priorities.

Parker Community Remembers 9-11

After writing about my flight on 9/11 yesterday, I wanted to share the latter part of my day.  Once I arrived back in North Carolina, my community hosted a program to remember the 10th Anniversary of 9/11.  My Resident Advisor staff asked residents who lived in our community to come out wearing red, white and blue and we created a human flag.  We plan to sell the picture with all of the proceeds going to the NYPD and NYFD!  It was great to see so many people come out to the event and commemorate a day the changed all of our lives forever!

Reflections from Flying on the 9/11

I was up in Pennsylvania this past weekend for the Penn State football game, and it needed to be a really quick trip.  Because of the quick turnaround I made the decision to fly, and my return trip ended up occurring on September 11^th.  It was an interesting day to be in the air, especially because of the “credible threats” since it was the tenth anniversary of the terrorist attacks.  Thankfully it was an uneventful day for the country, but as I was preparing to fly I had several reflections on the day.

I can honestly say I love flying!  While it has become considerably more of a hassle since I was younger, I still get excited every time I go to an airport.  The idea that soon I will be in a completely different part of the world in such a short time, the idea that everyone I am currently in the airport with will within a few hours be scattered far and wide across the globe, and I always get the funniest giggle thinking about a hundred people sitting in a little metal tube flying extremely fast through the air.  Even though we have to go through such a hassle to fly, those things always make me smile!

One of the biggest themes that came up for me on my 9/11 flight was the idea of trust.  While I understand the basic physics of how a plane gets in the air and stays there, I really have no clue how to fly a plane.  I have no idea how it works, what a pilot goes through, and what you would need to do in the event of an emergency.  Those thoughts just reminded me how much trust we put into a person we do not even know.  We trust the pilot knows what he/she is doing, that he/she will keep our lives safe, and in the event of an emergency he/she will be able to appropriately handle the situation to bring us through.  While trust is a thing we work to build over a longer period of time in the real world, we pretty quickly put all of our trust in this unknown individual.

We also have a lot of trust in the system of flying, which is extremely complex.  I will be the first one to say I do not want to go through a body scanner machine, and the first time I didn’t, but then decided it was not worth the pat down, airport security has kept us safe since 9/11.  On top of security there is a whole system of machines and people powering our safety in the air, from the air traffic controllers, to the flight attendants, to the people at the gate, all making our trip happen.  I give so much respect to flight attendants, they are the first line of defense while working in an immediate and direct costumer service situation at all times.  An airplane is not like a restaurant or a bar where the costumer can decide to leave or the owner can throw you out, even though I am sure they sometimes want to give a passenger or two a parachute.

Overall, the whole system of flying is built on trust.  Something we need to work on in a stronger level in the real world.  Currently we live in such a high stress world with strongly divided viewpoints.  In politics there is no trust for what the other guy is doing, in the economy there is no trust for companies, the government, other countries, the stock market, it’s a divisive, get all you can for yourself attitude.  While I know all of our problems will not be solved by adding a bit of trust, I think it would move us much further along than the current configuration.  Trust is integral to an improv team, once you play with people for a long time and trust is built the group mind takes over.  You know what another people aisthinking, the scenes they are building, and can almost finish each other’s sentences, and the improv produced definitely goes to another level.  So maybe the only thing we can afford right now as a country is to trust each other a little bit more, and maybe the productivity of dealing with all of these problems will increase.

Can’t Hate the Japanese

The US Women's National Team after their heartbreaking loss in the World Cup Final. Photo from ESPN.com

Whenever my team is beaten on the field of play I always get the desire to be mad or hate the other team.  It is just so hard to be mad at the Japanese.  While I am really sad for the Women’s National Team and their defeat in the World Cup Final, I am happy for Japan.  Since I have been alive this has been the most excitement I have seen the country display for a soccer team.  The tweets were strong about not understanding why we were rearranging our Sunday schedules for a soccer game, but everyone was captivated by this hard working, gritty, tough, can do, American team.

It almost felt like it was the Americans destiny to win this World Cup.  They had this tumultuous year leading up to the World Cup, where they lost several games, an uncharacteristically Women’s National team thing.  They lost for the first time in group play, but the comeback started in the knock out round of the tournament.  They played in what was one of the all time most exciting men’s or women’s World Cup games against Brazil with a goal “at the death,” and an amazing win in a shootout.  It was almost like this come from behind underdog team had just the pluck and luck to pull this thing off.

Sadly it did not play out that way.  Enter a Japanese team, who was under matched physically, but played a beautiful ball control game.  They ended up taking out several teams which were heavily favored on their way to the final knocking out Germany and Sweden.  They took that step again in the final, coming back from behind twice to get to PK’s where they dominated and won their first World Cup.

This might be my bias coming out, but I just felt the Americans had the better team on the pitch yesterday.  Looking at the stats they lead in almost all categories except time of possession.  They also had all of these beautiful chances where they just could not finish.  It’s hard to watch a team be up for mostly the whole game, and still lose in the end.  But, I just could not feel bad or ill will towards the Japanese.  There was a moment in the broadcast where they showed a viewing party in Japan, and the excitement was palpable.  Japan was the team of destiny, fighting for their country which was ravished by the earthquake and tsunami back in March, followed by the nuclear disaster.  It was a tough year, and you just feel the uplifting moment this was for their country.

Hope Solo the US goalkeeper put it best, “I truly believed this was our tournament to win.  I felt that the entire time. At the same time I think there is something bigger pulling for Japan. They are the team of the tournament, and if there’s any team that you’re going to lose to, I’d put my hat off to them because they have so much class and they play with so much passion. They fought and they fought.”  Even Japan coach Norio Sasaki described his soccer god made it possible for Japan to pull out the victory.  While the soccer gods were not on our side, we got a beautiful match today.  Sometimes fate steps in and shows the way, and yesterday was not our day.

Women’s World Cup Final

The US Women’s Soccer Team courtesy of ESPN

As a former soccer player, I am really excited for soccer to get some time being the top story in sports.  It also is very exciting when women’s soccer gets the air time, and the country so excited!  Every time soccer receives big news time, we always delve into the discuss as to whether this is the time soccer makes its move into dominate sport in the United States.  I do not want to head into that conversation, I want to live in the moment of soccer taking the main stage, and our women’s team on the brink of winning another World Cup championship!  So let’s go USA, and I hope you take some time to enjoy the soccer match today at 2 PM on ESPN!