Sitting here working on a Saturday afternoon.

BBC news tells me that the Space Shuttle Columbia is lost.

I remember going into a Chemistry lesson in the lower sixth all excited about the first shuttle launch. I remember being at Oxford when we heard of the Challenger disaster. I was distraught then. It was as though I'd lost a close friend.

Why are these events, and others like the Paris Concorde disaster, more memorable than the deaths of thousands of people on the roads each day around the world?

My instantaneous reaction is that of a personal loss, but why?

I grieve for the families of people I don't know.

Is that noble? - I'm not sure.

Posted by nathan at February 1, 2003 03:20 PM

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