Wayne Hale sent out this email the other day. I wanted to share it with people, because it’s very well worded. I’m usually not one for inspirational emails, but he really hit the mark.
Last fall, NASA gathered many of the leading explorers of our day, not just astronauts but explorers of the deep oceans, mountaineers, those who make scientific expeditions into deep caves, others who seek scientific knowledge in volcanoes and other dangerous places. One of the panel discussions centered on risk and safety. It is a cliche in our business that “safety is the most important thing”. One of the panel members - well acquainted with dangerous activities - observed that “in exploration, the most important thing is - to go.”
Sitting on the ground is perfectly safe. Keeping a ship in the harbor is perfectly safe. But in our business - sorry to break the myth - the most important thing is not safety. The most important thing is - to go.
The most inspiring feat of exploration in the annals of polar history was the 1914 Shackleton expedition which attempted the first crossing of the Antarctic continent. Shackleton recruited his team with the following advertisement in the London newspapers: “Men wanted for hazardous journey. Small wages, bitter cold, long months of complete darkness, constant danger, safe return doubtful. Honour and recognition in case of success.”
Safe return doubtful.
Safe return doubtful.
Where would that be on our hazard assessment 5×5 matrix? The expedition was not ultimately successful, and there was precious little honor and recognition, at least at first; the good news is they did all return safely.
Today, do we have the values and fortitude to be explorers? To be a successful explorer requires willingness to take on risk. To insist on no risk, or minimum risk, or even achieving a perfect understanding of the risk crush any hope of success.
A year ago, on the first anniversary of the loss of Columbia, General Howell reminded many of us of the great sacrifice our friends had made. He told us it would be a shame if we let their sacrifice go for nothing . It would be a shame to quit now. It would be a shame if we stopped exploring became we have become too fearful of the risks that they knew were worth taking.
Recently, I heard Dr. Jon Clark speak to a group of students about his wife. He quoted a poem that she wrote some years ago in a letter to a college friend. As we face decisions in the days ahead you need to remember the words of Laurel Clark, Columbia crewmember:
“To laugh is to risk appearing the fool.
To weep is to risk appearing sentimental.
To reach out for another is to risk involvement.
To expose feelings is to risk exposing our true self.
To place your ideas, your dreams, before the crowd is to risk loss.
To love is to risk not being loved in return.
To live is to risk dying.
To hope is to risk despair.
To try at all is to risk failure.
But to risk we must,
Because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing.
The man, the woman, who risks nothing, does nothing, has nothing, is nothing.”