The Birth of Aviation

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"Isn't it astonishing that these secrets have been preserved for so many years just so that we could discover them?" - Orville Wright
The Wright brother's museum was quite an experience. It gave one lots of food for thought. There i was, standing on the track where Orvill successfully attempted man's first flight. Three times, as i stood there, a plane flew over the field, almost as if to say, "From that to this." Then i started thinking of all the advances that have been made in the past hundred years. Exactly 100 years ago, we had the first flight. 20 years later, we used planes as primitive bombers. 20 years after that, we had passenger planes and a sophisticated air force. 20 years after that, we had a man on the moon. Now look at were we are. I wonder what the world would be like if not for aviation. Maybe the wars wouldn't have had so many casualties. They wouldn't have been able to drop the bombs on Pearl Harbor, or on Hiroshima or Nagasaki. The terror attacks of September 11 never would have happened. My Grandfather would still be alive.
Rabbi Akiva Tatz once said something about how scary it is to have these powers in the hands of evil man. Man wanted to fly; they did. But because they did. But because they did, it increased their potential for either good or bad. Usually, they choose the bad. All you have to know how to do is pilot a plane and you will be able to destroy thousands of lives in one shot. Scary.
On the other hand, all you have to do is know how to pilot a plane and you can bring medicine or food to Africans in the jungle. My Grandfather did it. He could pilot a plane and because of that, he saved lives...and he lost his own.

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