Opinion: Pandemic in Perspective
By: Connor S. Price
Tags: Life Lessons, Life, John Glenn, NASA

Opinion: Pandemic in Perspective

Connor S. Price

A reflection on this real covid-era headline: Annie Glenn, widow of famed astronaut John Glenn, dies at age 100 of Covid-19 complications -FOX40 Sacramento, May 19, 2020

The headlines announcing Annie Glenn’s passing put into perspective the covid daily death counts that had replaced forecasted temperatures, stock tickers and sports scores as the dominant stats on our screens.

A 100 year old’s passing being featured in national headlines as a covid death is an interesting phenomena to ponder. Had Annie died before the pandemic, after “dies,” this headline would have likely read: “of natural causes,” or “of old age,” or “dies at age 100 of Covid-19” would have simply been replaced with “lived a long and fulfilling life.”

Annie’s passing from beloved centenarian nursing home resident to tragic pandemic victim had, for me, an inspirational effect. It put the name “John Glenn” in the news for the first time in a long time.

While we debate whether or not it is too dangerous to go to the supermarket, and whether or not teachers are brave heroes for returning to the classroom, let’s reflect on the concepts of danger and bravery demonstrated by an iconic hero of America’s “Greatest Generation.”

John Glenn was a marine fighter pilot, a NASA astronaut, and a true American badass. He fought in two official wars: WWII and Korea, surviving 149 combat missions. He was the top gun of dozens of dogfights long before Top Gun was a concept, a script, or a movie. Between the war with the Japanese and the war with the Koreans he kept busy by flying in a since forgotten skirmish with the Chinese, just to keep flying.

Glenn was the star of the Mercury Seven, the original batch of American astronauts, and he became the first American to orbit the earth when he whipped around the planet three times in a tiny capsule in 1962.

Six of the Mercury Seven survived their NASA careers; the seventh, Gus Grissom, was burnt alive in the cockpit of his shuttle while Glenn and friends listened to his final screams on the radio. For those tracking death rates, that’s a 14.29% on-the-job mortality rate for the Mercury Seven. Over time, with improvements to technology and safety, NASA astronauts’ workplace mortality rate has fallen to a cool 7.77%.

What did John Glenn do with these stats? Did he listen to Annie’s pleas for him to stay at home? Obsess over the numbers? Let fear keep him at home? Hell no.

Three decades after his buddy Gus burnt up and a dozen years after the Challenger exploded, John Glenn volunteered to go back into space and completed a nine day mission aboard the Discovery at 77 years old, making him the oldest human ever to explore space. Walter Cronkite interviewed him on live TV while he was in orbit, and his NASA boss interjected to convey a message from his wife Annie back on earth: “You ain’t going up again,” came the supposed spousal send-up, intended to provoke a chuckle.

Glenn replied, sharp as a needle: “Old folks have dreams and ambitions, too, like everybody else. Don’t sit on a couch someplace…Maybe you’ll have to put me up on another mission, whether Annie likes it or not.”

Watch young and old John Glenn tell us about accepting risks and living life in this 98 second video montage: