what reagan said

On my Facebook, I have a quote from Ronald Reagan in that random space they give you to write something.

The future doesn't belong to the fainthearted; it belongs to the brave.

I don't really care one way or the other about Ronald Reagan. It's what he said (or what his speechwriter wrote) and the situation he said it in that made me want to put it in that random space.

I found the quote while I was in a bookshop in Canberra. I was killing time and I flicked through a book of great speeches. Ronald Reagan's speech in response to the Challenger spaceshuttle disaster was one of those speeches. I read it, because I think it's interesting to see how leaders react in times of crisis.

"We've grown used to wonders in this century, it's hard to dazzle us," he says.

And that's true. Although, that's last century it still rings true. Nothing surprises us anymore.

But it's the part where Reagan explains to "the schoolchildren of America who were watching the live coverage of the shuttle's takeoff" that he says that remarkable sentence.

Put simply, the future doesn't belong to those who play it safe. It belongs to those who try to do the impossible, the scary, the daring. It belongs to them despite the fact that they may stumble, fail or, even die in that act.

I'd rather be brave than be fainthearted.