On Sept. 11, 2001, the world changed and I began telling people that the American space program, and many other things American, had been set back by 50 years. On Nov. 9, I changed my prediction again. A person advocating Make America Great Again had become president-elect, and that person has a distorted version of what a great America looks like and represents.

I had been telling students in my classes, as well as anyone who would listen, that people would be establishing a colony on Mars by 2035. Now with the president-elect’s Make America Great Again program, I changed my prediction to 2045.

John Glenn knew. Single planet species don’t survive. Glenn knew what a great America was all about, and worked to achieve that goal. He envisioned people exploring the solar system before the end of his life, and exploring the galaxy after that. The president-elect does not know much about the solar system or galaxy, or of our great American future. John Glenn did.

It is unfortunate Glenn passed away, but I am glad he will not see the president-elect’s version of a great America. It is an America whose leaders begin their adult years with a small million-dollar loan, fail often at great expense to other people, and have morals questioned by anyone with a true understanding of morality.

John Glenn was a great American. His courage, vision and morality will be remembered by everyone who understands what a great America is all about.

Frank Lock
Gainesville

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