Just a Thought

Just the other day, I was thinking about how inches one way or another have affected aspects of life apart from sporting events. Take, for instance, the space shuttle Challenger. On its tenth journey on the 28th day of January, 1986, only 73 seconds into the journey, the shuttle disintegrated in mid-air. Researchers say that this catastrophe occured due to a malfunction with one of the O-ring seals on the right solid rocket booster failed to seal. This failure left a miniscule hole, allowing flames to leak out of the booster and into the external fuel tank. This hole was maybe a couple of inches big, however, those few inches were the difference in the lives of seven astronauts. The astronauts were killed instantly and in front of millions of people due to the national television broadcast of the fateful event. It's sad to think that a couple inches played a hand in the death of those people. Inches in life are everywhere, and they determine whether an event is catastrophic or successful. And in the case of the space shuttle Challenger, those couple of inches were more than catastrophic.