John Glenn was a man that seemed to seize more than his fair share of days. He was the first American to orbit the earth and over three decades later, he became the oldest astronaut in space as the payload specialist on the Space Shuttle. In between his tenures exploring space, he served in the American Senate for 24 years.
Many years ago, when I worked on satellite receivers, I heard a story about John Glenn that has stayed with me for all these years. I was tuned into a newcast’s satellite downlink. The downlink was always on so when they would cut to commercial, I could see the newscasters having their makeup fixed and I could hear all the informal conversations between the newscasters, directors, and cameramen while they waited for the commercial to end. On this newscast Connie Chung was smoking a cigarette while having her makeup fixed and she was telling a story about when John Glenn saved her life. She was covering his Senate campaign and while she was setting up, the battery pack she was wearing caught fire. People were panicking all around her while the flames were growing. No one seemed to know what to do. That’s when John Glenn calmly strolled over, reached his hand into the flames and pulled a wire from the battery pack - putting the fire out. Connie Chung was too traumatized to go on but John Glenn continued on his way, shaking hands and greeting people as if nothing had happened.
The world seems a little less bright with John Glenn’s passing. With the present world leadership, we could use a guy like him more than ever. No one seizes the day like John Glenn could seize the day.
“I’m not interested in my legacy. I made up a word: 'live-acy.' I'm more interested in living.” - John Glenn (1921 - 2016)
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