Pulled Quotes

The Onion reported on a Columbia University cultural anthropology major interning at NASA whose goal is to walk on the moon before his internship expires in Late June. Ryan Hodson lists his people skills, stellar work habits, and outgoing personality as sufficient credentials in joining the NASA astronaut crew.

This story is one of the most positive, uplifting stories I’ve read in a while, and that, in my opinion, gives it its newsworthiness. A guy my age whose out refilling staples, organizing magazines in the break rooms, and moving the cold sodas to the front of refrigerators has dreams and ambitions that are impregnable. He’s faced some steadfast resistance from higher ups who say that they will never allow an intern to participate in a space walk. Hodson, however, brushes that aside claiming that that’s what they say to all the interns so they don’t get their hopes up. Hodson has been busy dropping hints and voluntarily providing his experience with g-forces and advertises that he doesn’t need the training to go to space–which will save NASA hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The publishing of this story is really important to people living in the discouraging times we live in. The fact that there is someone out there who is putting his dreams and ambitions on the highest shelf is a model that everyone should live by. He’s going against the status quo of just accepting failure and that egregious word that we’ve been hearing too much of lately: “No!”