THANK YOU, JOHN GLENN

"You can't relive your life." - John Glenn

by Liz Richards (writer)

 

 

We've lost so many legends this year, so many incredible cultural forces who have touched our lives on a personal level and made us who we are. Some have hurt more than others, and I think we all have at least one that's really knocked us down. 2016 seems determined to play for keeps, even at the end. 

The year has been bookended by the loss of two spacemen who I know have shaped me, but also all of us. David Bowie was imagination incarnate. He represented all our our possibilities, a limitlessness that allowed us to our individual potential, in a world where space and spiders and sensuality where all on the table. 

 

John Glenn operated in a much more tangible world, but he too showed us exactly what we are capable of attaining.The first American to orbit the world, a lifelong senator and one-time presidential contender, the oldest human ever in outer space (at 77 years old!) and a man who had a current pilot's license into his 90s, John Glenn was everything that we know we can be. 

There's no doubt that John Glenn fits the standard American narrative, in fact he is the American narrative. A young Ohio boy turned World War II hero who went on to be an astronaut and then a politician. He was as apple pie as they come. But he had guts and ambition that not many can match, that's what makes an astronaut. But more than that, he seemed to genuinely want to help people, to make the world a better place, and he didn't take his achievements for granted. That's what really makes an astronaut, that's what made John Glenn so special. 

He's given the last sixty years of Americans something to aspire to, something to emulate. I don't know much about John Glenn the person, his personal life or how he interacted with the people closest to him. But I know what he stood for. I know that he was the original Buzz Lightyear, a new age cowboy, one of the ultimate American heroes. Because he was brave, but still humble, and spent his life fighting for others even after he achieved greatness, I know that I'm capable of the same.

 We need a whole new generation to step up and be brave, but still humble. And we need to fight for others more than fiercely than ever. Our achievements are important, but now only to the extent that we lift each other up. Where David Bowie showed us our individual potential, showed us just what we could do on our own with imagination and self-expression, John Glenn showed us what we can do for each other. A large part of me is devastated to see them both go, in a year where the blows keep coming. 

But I am grateful for their influence, proud that they are my heroes. John Glenn was a real fireball, boy, that's for sure. He gave us both something to dream about and something to aspire to. He led by example, set the bar higher than it's ever been set before. He shot for outer space, so that we all might land among the stars.