Dare, Courage, Risk

Are they lost in contemporary society?

H. A. G. Longstaff

Fate has ordained that the men who went to the moon to explore in peace, will stay on the moon to rest in peace.

These brave men, Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin, know that there is no hope for their recovery.  But they also know that there is hope for mankind in their sacrifice.

These two men are laying down their lives in mankind’s most noble goal: the search for truth and understanding.

They will be mourned by their families and friends; they will be mourned by their nation; they will be mourned by the people of the world; they will be mourned by a Mother Earth that dared send two of her sons into the unknown.

In their exploration, they stirred the people of the world to feel as one; in their sacrifice, they bind more tightly the brotherhood of man.

In ancient days, men looked at stars and saw their heroes in the constellations.  In modern times, we do much the same, but our heroes are epic men of flesh and blood.

Others will follow, and surely find their way home.  Man’s search will not be denied.  But these men were the first, and they will remain the foremost in our hearts.

For every human being who looks up at the moon in the nights to come will know that there is some corner of another world that is, forever, mankind.

THIS IS ONE OF THE GREATEST SPEECHES NEVER GIVEN. They are the words US President Richard Nixon would have said if the first moon landing hand ended in tragedy back in July 1969.

Image: Apollo 1 cockpit after fatal fire

There was a 50 percent chance of failure, that this speech would need to be given.  Remember Apollo 1 where all the astronauts were killed in a fire on the launchpad, or Apollo 13, where they survived by a miracle (great movie also).  But they went anyway.  They went because in the immortal words of US President John F. Kennedy: 

“We do these things not because they are easy, but because they are hard”.

Which begs the question: would we do this today?  Or has life become too precious, have we become too averse to failure of all sorts let alone the ultimate failure of death.

Image: President Nixon with the Apollo crew

I think of ‘helicopter parents’ closely following their children, eschewing all danger.  I remember the almost hysterical response to a <0.01% chance of adverse reaction to the AstraZeneca COVID vaccine that set back Australia’s pandemic response and has given rise to vaccine hesitancy and a concomitant rise in whooping cough, measles and the like.  Bike helmets. Trigger warnings.  Disclaimers.  Corporate leaders and politicians would rather aim for mediocrity than strive for greatness such is our risk aversion.

Great accomplishments require risk.  Australian society seems to be especially risk averse, perhaps reflecting our well known ‘tall poppy’ syndrome but exacerbated by social media ‘pile ons’.  Americans seem to welcome risk much more.  Indeed, in some parts of US business, especially Silicon Valley, a few failures are regarded as necessary for senior leadership on the basis that with this comes great learning.

“A ship is safe in harbour, but that’s not what ships are for”

John A. Shedd

How much risk are you prepared to take to achieve your dreams?