Blue Sky *

We've waited long for this day to come
For all the midnight lights we've burnt into the morning sun
I can't wait to see your sweet mysteries
The moon, the stars, the sun, the universe, the galaxies
Fly home on your silver wings
With a new song for the world to sing
Light this candle, make it right

Yes, you can change the world
True love discovers, and
She stands, and she won't back down

Oh yes, you can change the world
There is no other one
Believe and you will find blue sky

Gonna chase the dream, we gonna set it free
Gonna make it real, gonna make it shine, gonna keep it grooving on
One small stepping stone, baby we're not alone
Gonna take you farther, higher, faster then you're out of sight

You've got my flame in your fire, baby
You've got my twinkle in your eye,
Reaching for the distant light

Yes, you can change the world
True love discovers, and
She stands, and she won't back down

Oh yes, you can change the world
There is no other one
Believe and you will find blue sky

Don't you change too late, hey, yeah yeah
Or Fade away, yeah, yeah, oh,
My stars won't wait

Yes, you can change the world
True love discovers, and
She stands, and she won't back down

Oh yes, you can change the world
There is no other one
Believe and you will find blue sky

by Big Head Todd and The Monsters


* This song was originally written for Discovery's launch in 2005 (STS 114), the first space flight after Columbia's disaster. Later, it became Hillary Clinton's campaign song. Today, it describes thoughts and feelings of most people at GSFC, who are counting down for the launch of Atlantis, (STS 125) last Hubble's servicing mission, scheduled for launch on May 11, 2009, after more than a year of delays and unexpected obstacles on the way.

Just Be

Grown-ups like to make heroes of themselves
For making sacrifices for their kids
For doing this and that for their sakes
You look deeper and you see
So often the innocent angels are used as tools
For pushing grown-ups' dirty games

They are used and manipulated
Their innocent hearts are scratched
And no matter how hard you try
You cannot really do anything
For s/he is not your kid
You have no authority

You are helpless
You watch
All you can do is just to be there,
"Just be there for them",
You think,
And that is all you can do
You are helpless

I am helpless
Hoping not to break into tears this afternoon
When I see my angels
For I do not know how much longer I can enjoy these regular gatherings
My heart is in one thousand pieces
And all I can do is just to be

Just be
Just be the aunt they love
Just be
Maybe they remember
Maybe
Maybe

Just be
Just be
Just be

Routine

To my dear friends,
Lost in ordinariness and routine of their daily tasks

We have often heard,
Do what you love, and
You do not have to work another day.

I would like to propose a different approach.
We are all unique individuals.
Thus, no two people can perform a task exactly the same,
No matter how routine and ordinary it may seem.

For example, to enter the campus where I work,
I pass the security guards everyday.
They are there, rain or shine,
Under the hot sun or freezing snow.

I think to myself, there is no job more boring than this:
Check everyone's badge and let them get in.
Yet, each guard has a different approach to it.

Some, have a sense of honor and duty.
They think they are contributing to a great cause.
Helping to service the Hubble telescope, or orbit moon.
They secure mission success*,
They give you a polite "Good morning Ma'am",
The warmest "Welcome back"s,
And the most sincere "stay safe"s.
They make your day start right,
With positive energy.

There are others who take things under their own control
They make small talk with every driver
They get to know each of them a little more everyday
They view their jobs as an opportunity to befriend the brightest minds

And then there are the sad ones
The ones that make you feel guilty everyday
They barely look at you,
They feel so tired, so bored, so fed up with their jobs,
You feel sorry for them.

They are all doing the same job,
It is what they make of it that makes the difference
How they value it
How they view it***
How they try to make it meaningful

As long as we connect with other human beings
There are hearts and minds to learn from, to connect with, to conquer
And that is nowhere near boring.

Then there are other jobs,
Which in their own description,
Demand affecting people's way of thinking,
The way they approach life and problems
Like teachers, researchers, psychologists, etc.
Yet, these experts find themselves exhausted in the ordinariness of these jobs.

So, if you have not found something you love to do,
Give meaning and find a higher purpose
For what you do in the meantime,
Because that will keep you going.

Before that, please tell me
How can any task be routine,
When No man ever steps in the same river twice,
for it's not the same river and he's not the same man.**

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* This came out of an OpenGoddard's discussion, when trying to come up with a slogan for the group. The idea was to start a campaign "We -- Mission Success" and everyone would fill the blank based on their duties.
** Heraclitus
*** Here are two other anecdotes of how different people view the same job differently:
1. From an OpenGoddard post:
One day, a man walked by a building where three men were cutting stones. He went up to the first, seemingly unhappy man, and asked “What are you doing?” The stone cutter replied, saying “breaking rocks.”

The man walked up to the next stone cutter, who seemed to be enjoying his job more than the first. He asked, “What are you doing?” The second stone cutter smiled, saying “earning a living.”

Finally the man came to the third stone cutter, who was singing and dancing while cutting his stone. As before, the man asked “What are you doing?” The stone cutter joyfully responded, saying building a cathedral!”

2. President Kennedy once visited a NASA site in 1960s and encountered a janitor. Kennedy asked the janitor, "And what's your job?" The reply was, "Mr. President, I'm helping to put a man on the moon."

Brutally Honest

I have been brutally honest.
I have paid a high price for it.
The rewards were greater though,
For I am now surrounded by dear ones
Who not only appreciate this quality
But also demand nothing less.

I made the right choice

For I passed you by
Without feeling anything.
I laugh more often,
And feel much lighter,
Without you.

Earth Hour

My friends and I observed the Earth Hour last night in a party. An Iranian friend of mine found the beginning of Spring, the Persian New Year, Easter, St. Patrick's day, etc. good excuses to host a party for his friends of many nations. The host asked me to prepare a toast in appreciation of mother Earth few hours before the party. So, I searched for poems and quotations about Earth among my favorite poets. I thought I would emphasize we only have one home planet, one Earth. Even if we find life in other planets, as we are actively searching to do so, it would take decades before we understand those environments, learn how to adapt and live there, let alone build civilizations. I decided to close with a verse from a poem of Robert Frost:

"Earth's the right place for love: I don't know where it's likely to go better".

Many seemed to like it! I was glad, my job was done. Later, one of the guests asked me if I read and like Robert Frost's writings. I said I have read some of them and like them. Then, he recited this beautiful poem from him to me:

"The rose is a rose,
And was always a rose.
But now the theory goes
That the apple's a rose,
And the pear is, and so's
The plum, I suppose.
The dear only knows
What will next prove a rose.
You, of course, are a rose
But were always a rose."

It was a nice night to remember.

One Moment

Thousands of miles farther
Many fortunes later
I have arrived
For that one gaze
For that one smile
For that one moment with you