BEC.HEFFRON@USC-ECL.ARPA (Matt Heffron) (03/18/86)
The following is from a letter to the editor, Riverside, CA Press-Enterprise. My children shall never forget January 28, as they sat in their classroom and watched the coverage of the tragic shuttle explosion. My 6-year-old was particularly affected. You see, he has great appreciations of being a pilot, then on to become an astronaut. His comment the other night is one I shall never forget! He asked: "Mom, when I'm an astronaut and go up to space will I die quick too?" I hope my response was reassuring for his young mind. Time will tell, time will heal. -- KRIS McCLINTOCK I wonder how many hundreds (thousands?) of kids are thinking the same thing? I hope time heals. Matt Heffron -------
ecl@mtgzy.UUCP (e.c.leeper) (03/19/86)
> He asked: "Mom, when I'm an astronaut and go up to space will I die quick > too?" I hope my response was reassuring for his young mind. There's hope for the dream. Note this 6-six-old didn't give up his idea of being an astronaut--he said "when", not "if"! Evelyn C. Leeper ...ihnp4!mtgzz!ecl (or ihnp4!mtgzy!ecl)
elw@netexa.UUCP (E. L. Wiles) (03/20/86)
> The following is from a letter to the editor, Riverside, CA Press-Enterprise. > > My children shall never forget January 28, as they sat in their classroom > and watched the coverage of the tragic shuttle explosion. My 6-year-old was > particularly affected. > You see, he has great appreciations of being a pilot, then on to become an > astronaut. > His comment the other night is one I shall never forget! > He asked: "Mom, when I'm an astronaut and go up to space will I die quick > too?" I hope my response was reassuring for his young mind. > Time will tell, time will heal. > -- KRIS McCLINTOCK > > I wonder how many hundreds (thousands?) of kids are thinking the same thing? > I hope time heals. > > Matt Heffron > ------- I've a young neice who intends to be an astronaut, when her mother heard that the shuttle had blown up, she turned to the child and said, "Your never going up in one of those!". The child replied, "By the time I can go, they will have all the problems fixed!". Both mother and child remain adamant. :-) E. L. Wiles @ NetExpress, Inc. Virginia
paul@axiom.UUCP (Paul O`Shaughnessy) (03/21/86)
I know that the shuttle tragedy was traumatic for the children watching, and I was upset for days afterward. However, I'd like to offer this counterpoint to all the talk of children being scarred for life by this event. I have friends who teach at the Concord NH school where Christa McCauliffe taught. Apart from eyewitness news creeps trying to get camera shots of children crying, they were descended upon by flocks of social workers and psychologists reminding each and every child that they *will* remember this event and they *will* be scarred for life and space flight *really* isn't that dangerous. J.C. Almighty! The kids are going to be more screwed up by the efforts to "cure" them than by anything else! Space flight is dangerous, NASA is fallible, several greatly admired personal heros were killed, and that's that! These children will be no more scarred by this than I am by President Kennedy's assasination. Unless, of course, the psychologists are interested in job security. My profound apologies to social workers and psychologists in general, but what I have been told about this school borders on the absurd.