Like so much of the rest of the world, I’m in total awe of our amazing Artemis II astronauts. They are everything you like to see in human beings. I adored watching footage of Victor Glover’s hero’s welcome to his neighborhood. I so admire his unapologetic professions of his Christian faith. I loved seeing the excitement Christina Koch’s pup showed when being reunited with her. And today, I watched the speeches that the Artemis II crew made in Houston. I soaked up everything which they had to say, so full of gratitude and love for their families, for each other, and for everyone at NASA who supported their mission. The words that struck me the most though came from Jeremy Hansen and I had to transcribe them and add them to this thought lab which we have going on here at Adulting – Second Half. Here is some of what astronaut, Jeremy Hansen said:
“Joy . . . . I think you saw a lot of joy up there and there was a lot of joy up there . . .We have a term in our crew that we coined a long time ago, “the joy train.” We’re not always on the joy train, this crew, but we are committed to getting back on the joy train as soon as we can and that is a useful life skill for any team trying to get something done.”
And this:
“Love . . . what you saw was group of people who loved contributing, having meaningful contribution and extracting joy out of that . . . And what we’ve been hearing is that this was something special for you to witness. . . .I would suggest to you, we are a mirror reflecting you and if you like what you see, just look a little deeper. This is you.”
The reason why anything resonates in our deepest selves is because we intuitively know that it is a part of us. These astronauts showed bravery, resiliency, sacrifice, contribution, joy, teamwork, gratitude, awe, faith, hope and love and we all reverberated with it. And this is because, as Jeremy Hansen said, the astronauts mirrored the best parts of our own shared humanity. These astronauts mirrored the best parts of ourselves. They’re not in space anymore, but I imagine the Artemis II crew is definitely on the joy train. Let’s join them and let’s stay there as long as we possibly can.
Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.