Men and women have accomplished some truly astounding feats of courage and innovation. If you have ever been physically close to the remnant of some great event it is a tremendous feeling. Years ago I experienced this when I visited Kitty Hawk North Carolina and The Wright Brothers National Memorial Park. Following the museum lecture I walked out onto the field where the Wright Brothers had worked and struggled to realize a dream to fly.
I slowly walked the very field where they flew history’s first sustained and controlled flight. There are markers on the ground that measure out the flight’s distance. Standing there alone, all I could hear was the wind gusting as I tried to envision two ordinary men who were pursuing something extraordinary—their destiny. As I stood there in the wind I realized I was standing in the past. The Wright Brothers walked the same dirt I did but when they did, they were walking in the future. Amazing. Two ordinary individuals commandeered the lack of money, time, and help by taking it all captive to an unfathomable power—a fire in the belly; an ignited passion that propelled them to move out of the box the world had thought closed. In doing so they lifted themselves and the entire world off the gravity shackles of earth. Every time I saw the Space Shuttle lift off I am reminded of that. Something extraordinary was achieved because someone believed and engaged that belief and then led others to believe it also.