Letters to the Editor

Troops merit same attention as shuttle disaster

© St. Petersburg Times
published February 6, 2003

The shuttle disaster was a tragedy. My sympathies to the astronauts families. However, when we had a number of servicemen killed in action in Afghanistan, did our news networks go to full-time coverage? Were there complete sections in the newspaper devoted to those tragedies? If parades had been scheduled, would there have been an outcry to cancel them? Were ballgames canceled?

Our sevicemen and women start at close to minimum wage to defend our country. For minimum salaries they volunteer to take a bullet to defend this country. The reserves and National Guard leave their jobs, many at very good salaries, to heed the call of our country to defend it. They are doing their jobs knowing full well it may cost them their lives, just as the astronauts did.

Why then do we give the shuttle tragedy such big headlines and our servicemen and women only the small print? Do we really have our priorities straight?
Robert Bailey, Tarpon Springs

Mysteries need exploring

Re: Help mankind here on earth, letter, Feb. 4.

One has to be glad that the early explorers (Leif Ericson, Columbus, Magellan, etc.) did not all share the letter writer's parochial viewpoint with regard to curiosity and intellectual interest in what lies beyond our immediate surroundings

I get the distinct impression that the writer has absolutely no concept of how insignificant our world (i.e., the planet Earth) is from a cosmological viewpoint. We are, literally, but a "grain of sand" in a universe about which we (fortunately) learn more fascinating details almost daily.

The letter writer needs to understand that our sun is one of millions of stars in our Milky Way galaxy, which -- in turn -- is only one of billions of such galaxies in the universe. I, for one, am ecstatic that our government is funding our space program to explore the mysteries of outer space. Hopefully, one day, this research will provide the answer to the genesis of the universe.
Bob Lindskog, Palm Harbor

Let's look inward, not outward

Let's stop pouring money into the space shuttle and similar programs. Our nation can do so much more with the money and manpower.

What if those great minds were teaching our young people? What if we put all those resources into our universities, public schools and cancer foundations -- and also used them to feed the needy children and the poor

The only thing I got from the space program was a microwave oven that I use for popcorn! We as a nation can do better. Let's look inward, not outward.
Richard A. Zagata, Largo

It's a matter of survival

Re: Help mankind here on earth, letter.

The letter writer asks, "Why are we choosing to investigate the mysteries of outer space, when man has not even learned to live at peace in this big beautiful world God gave us?

Here's why: As we cure diseases and hopefully achieve peace, who's going to tell people not to go forth and multiply? We already see examples of overpopulation and devastation of resources in parts of the world that can least afford it. Overpopulation will be the biggest problem in the future. My great-great-grandchildren will probably see a world so overpopulated, with resources so taxed, (after all, the resources and size of the earth are finite), there will be war upon war just for room to live.

For that reason I don't think we have a choice to do other than investigate the feasibility of inhabiting other worlds, whatever the cost, if we expect to survive as a species.
W. Hays, Hudson

Put space program on back burner

As I sit here pondering the ghastly events of the weekend and praying for the repose of the souls of the Columbia crew, the following things come to mind: the wreckage of several young families; the loss of the brilliant talents of the crew who could have done so much for society; the fact that space flight is much more dangerous than we had ever thought.

A long time ago, the Russians conned us into a silly competition over manned flight in space. We won, the Russians lost and also went bankrupt.

Space flight has been taken over by hoopla and boosterism. Many of the so-called experiments are banal, even goofy. Isn't it time to put the space program and its half-billion-dollar launches on the back burner and spend the money on improving the lot of the victims of the recession?
Daniel Peisch, St. Petersburg

Honor the brave, and fix the problem

Life is about being born, living and dying. What life is not about is that we should stop making cars, trucks, airplanes, boats, submarines, etc., even though we as a people are maimed, burned or killed because of accidents or explosions by the thousands each and every year while using these vehicles.

So why do some people ask questions like: "Do you think we should put a stop to flying shuttles into space when people have died because of explosions?" No, of course we shouldn't.

What we should be doing is asking questions like: What caused the shuttle to blow up? And we should try to come up with answers and prevent that particular problem from happening again.

And we should not forget that brave people, knowing that they could die because of problems on the space shuttles, still want to do it -- just like people who drive cars, trucks, fly airplanes, etc., knowing that they could also die from an accident or from problems in the vehicles themselves.

What we need to do is honor these people for their bravery -- honor those who have died -- and see if we can eliminate the problem that caused the space shuttle's destruction in the first place.
Sylvester "Sonny" Gibbons, Hudson

The price of exploration

While I am deeply saddened by the tragic loss of our astronauts Saturday morning, as well as the monetary loss of another space vehicle, I've come to realize that they were merely doing their life's bidding, what they loved to do -- exploring. And just as it always has been throughout time, the rewards of exploration far outweigh the ever-present risk and danger that is associated with it. Each of the seven astronauts who died Saturday knew and accepted this fact. I also am aware of this every time I don my dive gear and slip beneath the surface of the gulf waters, yet the risks will never cause me to cease enjoying my exploration.

God bless the seven explorers who were called home last week, the space program, and our wonderful country. God bless us all.
Floyd Reed, St. Petersburg

How do we weigh the worth of lives

I had already prepared myself for considerable coverage of Saturday's tragic loss of the Columbia before I opened my Sunday paper. The loss of seven highly admirable human beings is always an appropriate time for sorrow and mourning.

What the paper delivered far exceeded anything I could have prepared for. The hyperbole and cartoonish angst far transcended the bounds of decency and led me to ask some painful questions:

What renders some people's lives so much more valuable than others? Where were the extended encomiums for the four Marines who died last week when their helicopter crashed in Afghanistan? The environmentalists who were lost off the coast? Were they not just as committed to their individual life endeavors and therefore just as admirable as Columbia's crew? Were they not just as courageous? Finally, and most disturbing, how tragic will this event be when compared to the impending onslaught we are about to loose on Iraq and ourselves -- compared to the prospect of those 10,000 body bags being filled and returned to the United States for proper military burial?

I am not a Democrat, nor am I a Republican. I have lost my political affiliations. I am just now clear-headed enough to see that we have not yet begun to mourn, and we are not truly prepared to comprehend the tragedies we are facing.
Jeff Daum, St. Petersburg

The costs to humanity

When Columbia exploded over Texas:

The United States lost a space craft

Mankind lost seven precious human beings.

When bombs explode over and in Baghdad:

The United States will have spent weaponry.

Mankind will have lost thousands of precious human beings.
Thomas Murphy, Clearwater

We have needs here at home

It's time to shut down NASA. How many more people are they going to send to their deaths?

Have we gained anything after 40 years of exploring space? We haven't found any cures for cancer. We do have a nice pile of moon rocks that probably cost the taxpayers about $10-billion per rock. Big deal

I, for one, don't care what's on Mars or Pluto or Jupiter or in any other galaxies. Every night, children in this country go to bed hungry. Veterans are homeless and sleeping outside.

Let's start spending our tax dollars on something worthwhile instead of a very, very expensive carnival ride.
Bill Scheiblein, New Port Richey

Keep these losses in perspective

Re: Permitting parade was shameful and No way to react to tragedy, letters, Feb. 4.

The letter writers expressed their indignation that the world did not come to a stand-still when the Columbia disaster occurred. The specific target of their wrath was the "shameful" decision to continue with the Gasparilla parade.

Here's a little wake-up call for the letter writers and any other like-minded individuals: Yes, the deaths of the Columbia crew members were tragic. Yes, it is fitting that they be remembered and honored. But they were not leaders of nations and humanity; they were working Joes who happened to have a more exotic, enviable and dangerous job than most of us.

Pull back and get some perspective on this, people. Construction workers, police, firefighter, taxi drivers and many others put their lives on the line every day to serve us, and many die in the performance of their duties. But no voices ring out to complain that life doesn't grind to a halt each time it happens. So why should it for these astronauts? Simply because they had a more glamorous occupation?

To expect everyone who worked for or came to celebrate that day in Tampa to turn about and go home just because it suits the letter writers is the pinnacle of arrogance.
David Carroll, St. Petersburg

Finger-pointing not appropriate

Re: When disaster hits, president in line for blame, Sara Fritz, Feb. 3.

This is another example of the liberal press, quick to place blame on President Bush for the shuttle disaster because of budget cuts. Supposedly these cuts were made at the expense of program safety. This is a lot of "hogwash." The people at NASA make the decision to go or not go. If there were a safety problem due to budget cuts, it was their responsibility to scrap the mission. This was a tragic accident that should not result in political finger-pointing.
Howard Huber, New Port Richey

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