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Icarus - A Meditation on the Space Shuttle Columbia
Tragedy
Reverend Brian J. Kiely, Unitarian Church of
Edmonton, February 2,
2003
Seven people died yesterday in a spectacular fireworks spread across
morning skies. The images filled our televisin sets and will continue
to do so for weeks to come.
Seven Grade 10 Calgarians died yesterday in a Revelstoke avalanche.
In a week, only their families and classmates will remember their
names.
50 Nigerians died yesterday in the fiery explosion in a shopping
area, apparently a tragic accident. We will never know their names.
Thousands die daily, some just tired with living, some in the service
of good, some from savage brutality and from war or its lingering
aftermath.
But it is seven astronauts the world mourns today. Why them?
Yesterday when I heard the news I was preparing for the Childhaven
dinner, thinking somewhat guiltily how I have so much compared to
others with so little. I watched the news and wondered why these
seven high flyers were so important.
My Ottawa colleague Rev. Brian Kopke wrote that the death of the
Columbia astronauts is ‘close to the hearts of anyone who dreams
about the unknown'. Perhaps that's it.
Astronauts are mythic characters, reaching for the very stars in
the sky. It is a splendidly foolish gesture, to sit on top of 30,000
pounds of highly explosive fuel only to be hurled into the most
hostile environment we can imagine. And sometimes, remarkably rarely,
they fall. Are they seven copies of Icarus? In pride, he flew too
close to the sun. His technology melted away and he plunged into
the sea. We must be careful about believing ourselves equal to
the gods.
Yet these seven were trying to advance the cause of science, to improve
the human condition. They weren't trying to equal the gods, only
perhaps learn more about them. They died striving to be the best
they could be. That's the tragedy.
Today is not the day to weigh the value of the space program against
something like an Tibetan orphanage. Leave that to another time.
Today is the day to mourn seven public deaths that remind us how
fragile and precious life is no matter where or how it is lost.
Let us ponder in the gathering silence, the precious gift of life.
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