The Tragedy of the Space Shuttle Challenger

I, too, grieve the deaths of those seven good, brave and valuable men and women who were the crew of the Challenger. Our broadcast media have preempted their normal programs, and our President has postponed his State of the Union speech. Well and good.

But when have we grieved so for the destitute men and women frozen to death on our city streets? Would we exhibit such concern for a dozen men killed in a coal mine cave-in? Did we mourn the 14 Nicaraguan mothers attacked and killed en route to visit their soldier sons, killed by a contra force under American sponsorship? Do our voices fail when we speak of the Africans who starve because of the greed and selfishness of the powerful?

Let us mourn the Challenger and her crew, but within some perspective. Was not the event a tragic industrial accident? Is life lost in an expensive vehicle much more precious than that simple life lost to a bullet, or to poverty?

Perhaps the Challenger was lost to some random failure beyond the means of human intelligence to prevent. Let us mourn those brave travelers today but, tomorrow, attend to those daily tragedies accessible to both intelligence and wisdom.

RICHARD E. OUELLET

Tustin