While thinking about\u00a0the news on the NASA budget today,\u00a0I thought of the following story.<\/p>\n
One time back in the 1960s, a NASA employee was roaming the halls of Kennedy Space Center.\u00a0 He came across a group of three janitors cleaning a restroom.\u00a0 Given his friendly nature, he stopped and approached the first one who seemed particularly dour.<\/p>\n
“How’s it going?” he asked.\u00a0 In response, the first janitor growled “How do you think it is going?\u00a0 I’m stuck here cleaning toilets.”<\/p>\n
<\/span><\/p>\n Shocked, the employee decided to talk to the second janitor.\u00a0 This guy seemed a little more excited about what he was doing.<\/p>\n “Hey, what are you doing?” he asked.\u00a0 The second janitor looked at him with a spark of hope in his eye.\u00a0 “I’m feeding my family,” he said.<\/p>\n Intrigued, the employee decided to go say hi to the third janitor.\u00a0 This guy was humming and smiling while he was cleaning the restroom.<\/p>\n “Why are you so happy?” the employee asked.\u00a0 The third janitor replied with a grin “because I’m sending man to the moon!”<\/p>\n The message?\u00a0 The context is decisive.\u00a0 In our lives, we control how we react to and how we perceive the world.<\/p>\n The new\u00a0NASA budget is likely to bring out lots of folks living from different contexts.\u00a0 Some of those will look like\u00a0”The Constellation Program shouldn’t be canceled” or “We are losing jobs in my state” or “We have no mission, no direction.”<\/p>\n I choose a different context:\u00a0 the new budget\u00a0is an opportunity.\u00a0 An opportunity to transform our planet’s future in space.\u00a0 An opportunity to engage the global community on a journey of exploration.<\/p>\n That sounds like fun.\u00a0 What is your context?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" While thinking about\u00a0the news on the NASA budget today,\u00a0I thought of the following story. One time back in the 1960s, a NASA employee was roaming the halls of Kennedy Space Center.\u00a0 He came across a group of three janitors cleaning … Continue reading