“Toughness is in the soul and spirit, not in muscles.” Alex Karras
He gives power to the weak. He increases the strength of him who has no might. Isaiah 40:29
Competence: “the ability to do something successfully or efficiently” New Oxford American Dictionary
”Spaceflight will never tolerate carelessness, incapacity, and neglect. Somewhere, somehow, we screwed up. It could have been in design, build, or test. Whatever it was, we should have caught it. We were too gung ho about the schedule and we locked out all of the problems we saw each day in our work. Every element of the program was in trouble and so were we. The simulators were not working, Mission Control was behind in virtually every area, and the flight and test procedures changed daily. Nothing we did had any shelf life. Not one of us stood up and said, ‘Dammit, stop!’ I don’t know what Thompson’s committee will find as the cause, but I know what I find. We are the cause! We were not ready! We did not do our job. We were rolling the dice, hoping that things would come together by launch day, when in our hearts we knew it would take a miracle. We were pushing the schedule and betting that the Cape would slip before we did. From this day forward, Flight Control will be known by two words: Tough and Competent.Tough means we are forever accountable for what we do or what we fail to do. We will never again compromise our responsibilities. Every time we walk into Mission Control we will know what we stand for. Competent means we will never take anything for granted. We will never be found short in our knowledge and in our skills. Mission Control will be perfect. When you leave this meeting today you will go to your office and the first thing you will do there is to write ‘Tough and Competent’ on your blackboards. It will never be erased. Each day when you enter the room these words will remind you of the price paid by Grissom, White, and Chaffee. These words are the price of admission to the ranks of Mission Control.” These are the words spoken by Gene Kranz to his mission control team the monday after the fire of Apollo 1 killed all three of it's crew members. I couldn't dream of improving upon his point so I won't try. But what if we made the words, “Tough and Competent” our motto?
Daily Journaling Questions:
How did I help someone in kindness today?
What did I learn today?
What am I thankful for?
Who did I love today?
What am I dreaming of?
What about today do I want to remember forever?
What are my goals for tomorrow?
Thanks for reading.
Jake
YOU ARE READING
Daily Self Growth Journal Pt. III
Non-FictionThis is the third in a series of interactive journals designed to help people grow personally, spiritually, and possibly even professionally. There is a daily message that contains a motivational quote, a Bible verse, a vocabulary word, and a messa...
