SAFE IN THE ARMS OF GOD

THE DAY DREAMS DIED I stared in disbelief that day As the shuttle Challenger was blown away Ask the survivors, if you will Was it worth that 74 second thrill? Seven pioneers met their fate that day And America, in unison, began to pray Where was God?  What went wrong? One dear lady wrote a song The quest for Halley’s Comet for us to see Is not worth the cost of seven lives to me Please forgive me if I am wrong But about this issue, I feel strong Money could be better spent If used to help the unfortunate To solve our problems here on earth Before we conquer the universe Let us work together for all mankind And leave this ugly mess behind Believe me NASA, I feel your grief But canceling your flights is a big relief Don’t send any more to go and leave Their family and friends below to grieve What went wrong that fateful day? We ask ourselves repeatedly If God would answer just one prayer today I’d pray the shuttle never went that day But since it did, I can only pray That all seven are in God’s arms today. January 28, 1986… Please dear God, help us come to grips… By Darlene Cirinna Written 2/2/86 I was at work that fateful day ~ my office was on the 7th floor of the State Building, downtown Orlando.  It was a cold day in Central Florida, but clear.  My co-workers and I knew we would have an excellent view of the launch from our office windows on such a beautiful day.  I wondered why NASA officials had not postponed the launch because of the freeze the night before.  It seemed like a bad wind had blown through my mind...I would not know until later why that thought bothered me so much. Just before launch time, many of us gathered at windows to watch the shuttle launch, as we routinely did on launch days.  The lift off was the same as so many before.  I was ready to get back to work when I saw this: When the shuttle exploded, we did not immediately understand what we had just witnessed with our own eyes.  A friend yelled..."SOMETHING IS WRONG!"  She kept saying it over and over.  That is how shocking it was to witness such a horrible sight.  Her husband worked for NASA...It was way too personal for her.  As the realization of what I had just witnessed finally sank into my mind, I was stunned into silence as tears slowly slid down my face. I will never forget that day.  It has been 25 years today.  The vision of the tragedy in the sky will be burned in my brain forever.  The balance of the day was spent in a numb world inside my brain.  The white smoke in the sky took it's time drifting away ~ a reminder of seven lost souls each time I looked skyward...  People were unusually quiet as they went about their business.  I saw many other people glance to the sky through out the afternoon.  Sadness was registered on faces everywhere.  I wrote the poem a few short days after the shuttle disaster.  It took me 24 long years before I shared it with anyone except for one other person who is long dead ~ 25 years and it still makes me cry to remember.  But today, I want to remember the seven people who died that day. SAFE IN THE ARMS OF GOD