John Glenn

I've written about John Glenn in the past,although I cannot seem to find it anywhere on here,but his passing at the age of 95 is notable for more than just being the final of the original Mercury astronauts to pass.

John Glenn was more than just an astronaut that was the first American to orbit the earth or even a four term Senator,he was a good man and I've always been an admirer of his for more than just his achievements.

Glenn seemed to be a man from another age,where your word meant something and where you tried to do the right thing because it was right,not because you gained an advantage from it.
I always thought the failed 1984 Presidential campaign of Glenn was mainly because of bad timing.
Glenn's immaculate reputation and strong morals would have ran very well in the 1976 election right after Watergate.
As I look back,that might have been Glenn's time and goes to show that much of politics is timing.
Would a Donald Trump ran as well in a different time?
The time was right for Barack Obama in 2008,there would have been many times that it would not have been and Glenn might have missed the window that would have been right for his presidential run.

I've never heard or read anyone complain about John Glenn other than being too much of a good person.
I'm not going to get too much into his resume,you can read the various obits for that,but it was an interesting point that it was John Glenn that trained Ted Williams to fly fighter jets in the Korean War.
It's a cliche' to be sure,but they don't make Americans like those two anymore!

Glenn only made one space flight,unless you count his space shuttle flight,which to be honest was more of a gimmick,because John F.Kennedy didn't want to risk losing a national hero on another mission.
That sounds a bit restrained until you consider the time and risk as the first man to enter space-Russia's Yuri Gagarin would perish in a plane crash just a few years after his flight,so one can understand Kennedy's thinking.

95 years is quite a life,so John Glenn filled those years quite well,but he did it with an honor and grace that seems to be disappearing from our age.
In an age that rewards bombastic egotism,Glenn's humble attitude might allow him to blend into the background unjustly.
To an American hero that we may not see his likes again for a while,that should not be..