{"id":50925,"date":"2003-02-02T06:45:37","date_gmt":"2003-02-02T06:45:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.soulhuntre.com\/items\/date\/2003\/02\/02\/that-all-are-safely-home\/"},"modified":"2003-02-02T06:45:37","modified_gmt":"2003-02-02T06:45:37","slug":"that-all-are-safely-home-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/legacyiamsenseiken.local\/2003\/02\/02\/that-all-are-safely-home-2\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2026that all are safely home."},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n
\n

<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

as it should be<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

I am by no means a religious man, and I don’t think I am about to start right<\/p>\n

now. Sometimes however words of faith are as hopeful and beautiful as they were<\/p>\n

intended to be – even for someone like me who deep down fears that all there<\/p>\n

really is waiting for us is darkness.<\/p>\n

At it’s best the Presidency is intended to be our voice, speaking for the national<\/p>\n

will and breathing sound into our collective hopes in defiance of our collective<\/p>\n

fears. It was just such a voice that spoke today in the wake of the Columbia<\/p>\n

tragedy:<\/p>\n

\n

"The crew of the shuttle Columbia did not return safely to Earth; <\/p>\n

  yet we can pray that all are safely home." <\/b><\/i>– <\/b>President<\/p>\n

G. W. Bush<\/i><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

I want to believe… for<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

many reasons<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Anyway, the full text of the presidential address is below; as always the<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Metafilter thread<\/a> is a great starting point..<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n
\n

President Addresses Nation on Space Shuttle Columbia Tragedy <\/p>\n

Remarks by the President on the Loss of Space Shuttle Columbia <\/p>\n

The Cabinet Room <\/p>\n

<\/b><\/p>\n

2:04 P.M. EST<\/b><\/p>\n

THE PRESIDENT: My fellow Americans, this day has brought terrible news and<\/p>\n

great sadness to our country. At 9:00 a.m. this morning, Mission Control in<\/p>\n

Houston lost contact with our Space Shuttle Columbia. A short time later,<\/p>\n

debris was seen falling from the skies above Texas. The Columbia is lost;<\/p>\n

there are no survivors. <\/p>\n

On board was a crew of seven: Colonel Rick Husband; Lt. Colonel Michael<\/p>\n

Anderson; Commander Laurel Clark; Captain David Brown; Commander William<\/p>\n

McCool; Dr. Kalpana Chawla; and Ilan Ramon, a Colonel in the Israeli Air<\/p>\n

Force. These men and women assumed great risk in the service to all humanity.<\/p>\n

In an age when space flight has come to seem almost routine, it is easy to<\/p>\n

overlook the dangers of travel by rocket, and the difficulties of navigating<\/p>\n

the fierce outer atmosphere of the Earth. These astronauts knew the dangers,<\/p>\n

and they faced them willingly, knowing they had a high and noble purpose in<\/p>\n

life. Because of their courage and daring and idealism, we will miss them all<\/p>\n

the more. <\/p>\n

All Americans today are thinking, as well, of the families of these men and<\/p>\n

women who have been given this sudden shock and grief. You’re not alone. Our<\/p>\n

entire nation grieves with you. And those you loved will always have the<\/p>\n

respect and gratitude of this country. <\/p>\n

The cause in which they died will continue. Mankind is led into the darkness<\/p>\n

beyond our world by the inspiration of discovery and the longing to<\/p>\n

understand. Our journey into space will go on. <\/p>\n

In the skies today we saw destruction and tragedy. Yet farther than we can see<\/p>\n

there is comfort and hope. In the words of the prophet Isaiah, "Lift your eyes<\/p>\n

and look to the heavens. Who created all these? He who brings out the starry<\/p>\n

hosts one by one and calls them each by name. Because of His great power and<\/p>\n

mighty strength, not one of them is missing." <\/p>\n

The same Creator who names the stars also knows the names of the seven souls<\/p>\n

we mourn today. The crew of the shuttle Columbia did not return safely to<\/p>\n

Earth; yet we can pray that all are safely home. <\/p>\n

May God bless the grieving families, and may God continue to bless America.<\/p>\n

END 2:08 P.M. EST<\/b><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

as it should be I am by no means a religious man, and I don’t think I am about to start right now. Sometimes however words of faith are as hopeful and beautiful as they were intended to be – even for someone like me who deep down fears that all there really is waiting […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":53138,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"aside","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[278],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/legacyiamsenseiken.local\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50925"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/legacyiamsenseiken.local\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/legacyiamsenseiken.local\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/legacyiamsenseiken.local\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/legacyiamsenseiken.local\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50925"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/legacyiamsenseiken.local\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50925\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/legacyiamsenseiken.local\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/53138"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/legacyiamsenseiken.local\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50925"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/legacyiamsenseiken.local\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50925"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/legacyiamsenseiken.local\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50925"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}