Courage Does Not Always Roar

Head down and arms outstretched; I push hard to move the heavy hanger door. Cold steel pushes back against the palms of my hands and the loud squeal of sliding rusty metal permeates the quiet of the morning. My breath is visible in the air around my head, suspended in the frigid spell of dawn.

A distant rumble shakes the sleepiness from my mind and the wandering thoughts bouncing around become more focused. I smell the aroma of burning fuel and oil as I’m snapped awake by the stiff breeze generated when four large radial engines spin up to move history from the 1940s to the present and get it airborne.

In awe I watch as a ghost from the past ambles by on rubber shoes and slowly lifts itself into the waiting blue sky.

Excitement replaces sleepiness and I can’t wait to follow that path upward as I get my less notable craft ready to go. My quest to fly started as a young man and took me years of hard work to fulfill, but realizing this dream was worth it.

Birds are born to fly. Humans had to work hard to accomplish the same feat.

I appreciate the dedication and sacrifices made by the many who poured their heart and soul into the goal of taking mankind from a ground-based being stuck to the earth by the glue of gravity and giving us the freedom to change our perspective skyward.