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The Columbia Tragedy and Irony

 
February 4, 2003

The Columbia Tragedy and Irony

Saturday morning as I stood outside, just north of downtown Dallas, in an area known as Oak Lawn, I witnessed something that I will never forget. The morning was kind of chilly and somewhat windy, but as the sun came up, it began to be a very beautiful, warm and cloudless day.

A friend drew my attention to the sky and we witnessed a strange sight. We assumed it was an aircraft with what looked like one or two smaller craft flying next to it. They were all leaving con trails behind them. The large one was leaving a very large trail behind it and as they got farther they seemed to be on fire. They were quickly out of sight and left us scratching our heads as to exactly what they were. Shortly after this strange occurrence, we heard what seemed to be like very deep sounding explosions. We assumed that the aircraft had crashed, but we never heard any sirens or the like.

We continued with our business and left the occurrence in our minds. Within ten minutes of the "explosion", my ten year old daughter called me on my cell phone and said, "Daddy, daddy, the Space Shuttle has been lost!" I responded by asking where this had taken place and then realized what we had witnessed was the disintegration of the Space Shuttle.

That colorful and strange sight we had just witnessed was the Space Shuttle and crew being literally ripped apart as we were watching it. I felt very sad upon realizing what had just happened. I knew that seven lives had just been taken in this tragedy. I knew that families would be grieving the loss of their loved ones. I knew that our Nation would be traumatized as we watched innocent people dying before Her eyes.

That's when the irony really set in. The place we witnessed this tragedy in the sky was in front of the oldest abortion "mill" in Texas where thousands of innocent people have literally been ripped apart, much like the seven astronauts were. The biggest difference was that these are killed every day, by choice, not by accident.

I knew that there would be local, national and global media attention due to this horrific event and the precious loss of life that occurred in the skies above North and East Texas, and rightfully so. A life being lost is a terrible thing. The irony is that I also knew that there would be absolutely no media attention and hardly a thought from the public, about the 23 lives scheduled to be torn apart at 2921 Fairmount, Dallas, TX, on a beautiful Saturday morning.

As I watched the news coverage and saw the disintegration of the shuttle scattered across hundreds of miles I was dumbstruck. Then, the media showed us the morbid picture of one of the astronaut's helmets with the face shield blown out. And finally, the details of the body parts that had been located...a torso, a leg, etc. Right in front of me, in this "clinic" the exact same thing was taking place. Body parts were being hewn into a container after being torn apart by a strong (wind) vacuum.

There is no mourning for these. There is no public outrage or dismay. There is no lowering the flag. There is no grieving by family members. There is no reading of Isaiah by the President. There is no talk at work, church or Sunday School. There are no memorial services scheduled to give the dead a proper burial. These lives are not considered valuable to us. These Image Bearers are not worthy of our attention.

A former NASA engineer warned the President of the inevitable danger that the Shuttle would endure due to safety problems and deficiencies, just six months before this tragic accident. He urged the President to immediately suspend all Shuttle flights because he feared that lives would be lost. His warning was not heeded and therefore it lead to the inevitable consequence of death and destruction.

I also warn the President and my fellow Americans (specifically the Church), that unless we too, heed the warnings, we will also be subject to the inevitable consequence that taking innocent life brings. In fact, many of thoseI also warn the President and my fellow Americans (specifically the Church), that unless we too, heed the warnings, we will also be subject to the inevitable consequence that taking innocent life brings. In fact, many of those consequences are already being realized in that the scheduled taking of innocent life around us everyday, has little or no impact on us. We just keep on going as if there were no problem at all. But, inevitably as night follows day, the consequence of killing God's innocent will be fully realized. I hope we will repent rather than carry on as if everything were ok.

May God Bless us by first turning us from our wicked ways, (Acts 3:26)

In Christ Jesus,

Rodger Goodwin