SALLY SANTANA | If you have a dream, commit to it

They weren't sure it would fly, the day our last Atlantis shuttle left earth for the International Space Station. The weather was "iffy" and mission controllers weren't sure the window of opportunity wouldn't slam shut before they could safely execute the launch. But everything held steady and the world watched as the space shuttle lifted off and headed up into the dark sky.

We've learned so much since the first human risked his life to go into orbit around the earth.

It all started with someone's dream. They found others who shared it with them, talked others into it, and half a century later, we're closing a chapter in the book on U.S. space flight.

Certainly there were those who said "You're nuts! If God wanted us in space He'd have given us wings, or a blueprint for such a machine. And where are you going to get the money? And who would want to risk their life to try? And why? What is the purpose of it all?

In a 2002 episode of "The West Wing" titled "Dead Irish Poets" the value of funding a supercollider is debated. They couldn't think of any practical applications for it.

"If we could only say what benefit this thing has," says a senator, pondering the billions involved. "No one's been able to do that."

The scientist replies, "That's because great achievement has no road map. The X-ray is pretty good, and so is penicillin and neither was discovered with a practical objective in mind. When the electron was discovered in 1897, it was useless. And now we have an entire world run by electronics. Hayden and Mozart never studied the classics. They couldn't. They invented them."

Staffer Sam Seaborn connects the dots, looks at them both and says, "Discovery. That's what this is used for. It's for discovery."

Your dream may not be as grand as finding a way to materialize on another planet. Maybe it's to write an ebook on raising llamas, or to carve out a block of time on Saturday to meditate. One thing is for sure — if you don't believe in it, whatever it is, and move it from head to heart to hands, nothing will happen.


What is your dream?