Compare this from Dan Hanson:

I was watching coverage of the accident with my daughter, who at 5 years old is already a big space fan. I was thinking about how to talk to her about it, when we had this exchange:


"Dad, did those astronauts all die?"


"Yes, honey. They did. But they were doing something very important."


I was preparing myself for her to get upset, when she said,


"Don't worry, Dad. They're going to build another shuttle. And it will be much safer. They'll put locks on the doors so the people won't fall out. It will be better than ever!"


Having just written the article I did (which she never saw), I was shocked to hear that same sentiment coming from a little five-year-old girl.

with this from Rod Dreher:

My own son Matthew, who is three, told his grandmother on the phone this morning, almost cheerfully, "The space shuttle Columbia blew up, but that's okay, because they're going to build another one." He's on the floor now playing with some kind of foam lawn dart he's turned into a rocket. "Five, four, three, two, one...blast off!" he keeps saying. Even this morning, he's still going on, as he has been for the past couple of months (when he first became obsessed with Neil Armstrong) about how he wants to be an astronaut.


Kids and their deathless dreams. God bless them.