Category: Questions to Ponder

Ronald Reagan’s “Speech on the Challenger Explosion” was given on January 28, 1986, directly following the Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster. A teacher was one of the members of the shuttle who was supposed to make it into space. For this reason, the disaster had extremely high media awareness as people were anticipating the historic moment. Unfortunately, the space shuttle was destroyed not long after its launch. As the President mentions in his speech, this was the first time an astronaut was lost during an accident in flight. This tragedy impacted the nation as Americans mourned the loss. Therefore, the occasion of this speech was that recent tragedy that happened earlier that morning. The speed at which this speech was prepared and given reveals how much public attention this accident received and how it was a national loss.

The audience of this speech is the general American public. At one point towards the middle of the speech, President Reagan directly addresses the school children listening and those who watched the live footage when the accident happened. He explains to them that the emotions of grief they are feeling are normal, and this should not scare them away. At one point in the speech, President Reagan also speaks to the members of the audience who are skeptical of the space program and who want to blame NASA for the accident. President Reagan also directly speaks to the members of the family of the crewmates and offers his condolences. Towards the end of the speech, President Reagan says he wishes he could speak individually to each person who worked on this mission at NASA to personally recognize the anguish they were experiencing and how America is still proud of all of the things they have accomplished despite this tragedy.

The speaker is the President of the United States at the time, Ronald Reagan. As President, he commands much respect from his audience and his audience recognizes him as a reliable and reputable figure. He is shown sitting at his desk in the Oval Office. In this speech, President Reagan is also personable as he relates to the loss the audience feels.

The speech itself uses a lot of words of inspiration to get across the message that the members of the crew were brave and should be looked up to. He also refers to this tragedy as terrible, but also something that should not deter the audience from exploration in the future. Instead, he tries to uplift his audience by saying that this tragedy will help improve us for the future. He also spends a good portion of his speech defending the space program. This is probably due to the controversy and conspiracies that were brought up as a result of this accident. President Reagan is using his authority as a respected official to restore the audience’s faith in the space program. He chooses to say, “Nothing ends here,” and uses powerful words like “freedom”, “pioneers”, and “future” to remind the audience that despite this tragedy, the people of America will be able to move forward.

Sources: https://www.space.com/18084-space-shuttle-challenger.html

Since the beginning of the Coronavirus pandemic, new “civic activities” have now been accepted as normal. We find these activities being performed in this “new normal” way of living as a direct result of the pandemic.

The most obvious civic activity that has arisen from this pandemic is wearing a mask in public and respecting social distancing guidelines. By wearing a mask, people are acknowledging the civic commonplace that the safety and protection of the greater community are more important than any minor inconvenience. Although some people disagree with this sentiment, those who do wear masks are exhibiting this commonplace. Especially at the beginning of the pandemic during quarantine, people who posted on social media for hanging out with friends were called out for being selfish and reckless. This shows that many people had adapted this new notion that staying at home during quarantine is a civic activity and those who do not respect that activity are also not respecting the commonplace of keeping each other safe despite the inconvenience.

Another civic activity that has arisen since the pandemic is trying to buy from local small businesses, as opposed to large corporations. Because of the pandemic, a lot of local businesses are struggling, especially those in the food industry. From what I noticed with the people in my town, a lot of people are trying to dine at local restaurants instead of larger chain restaurants. I’ve also noticed that people are trying to purchase more products from websites like Etsy when they can to support a local artist or just someone trying to make an additional salary as a result of losing their main source of income. Personally, I think that this is a really interesting civic activity that has arisen from the pandemic. Supporting these local businesses relates to the civic commonplace that communities need to come together in times of need.

Staying informed and up to date with the news is not a new civic activity, but it is definitely a much more practiced one since the start of the Coronavirus pandemic. Checking the guidelines and updates of the CDC and health professionals in particular is definitely something new that is being practiced. Between the constant update of information that the public is receiving about the pandemic, as well as the excess of leisure time many have because of the stay at home order, more and more people are staying up to date with the news. I myself have found the news tab on my computer open at all times as well as the new channels on the TV in the background too. Staying informed, particularly about the pandemic as well as with information from reputable health sources, exhibits the commonplace that staying informed is a civic duty and can help us make more informed decisions in the future. Nowadays, we assume that people have seen the recent coronavirus case reports as well as the new mandates that open or close indoor dining, for example. We currently live in a world where we expect everyone around us to have the same new information, and therefore assume that everyone is also in touch with new sources regularly.