Youth is a time for pursuing dreams. Some like to romanticise all they behold, others only love to take fancy for sports and yet others for daring and thrilling hobby or occupation. In uncountable ways do young people chase their dreams. One most exciting and passionate pursuance is to fly high in the endless void. Birds have wings naturally to spread in the air and fly. Man has no such gift from God. So he had to invent flying machines.
The Wright brothers of the United States of America are credited to have made the breakthrough on this front. Since then not only have passenger airliners turned the planet into a global village by reducing travel time but also fighter jets have competed for speed in order to fox enemy attacks. Additionally, rockets have put man-made satellites into orbit and even spacecraft or stations have made possible planetary travel as well as stay in space for years together.
However to come to this stage, the world had to pay a heavy price in terms of life and resources. Yet man dared explore outer space and developed more advanced and sophisticated machines for the purpose.
With such giant leaps in technology, though, still accidents happen. The other day an unmanned spaceship taking off with supply for astronauts in space station from Cape Canaveral under the National Aeronautics and Space Agency (NASA) of the USA crashed within three minutes. Within the week an Indonesian airliner also crashed with all its passengers feared dead.
What however proved to be a great loss to Bangladesh is the missing of Rumman Tahmid Chowdhury, a flight lieutenant with his training plane in the Bay of Bengal. On the day of accident, two pieces of the wreckage were found but then there was an uneasy silence over the possibility of finding the missing pilot or the rest of the plane.
This is the second such disaster involving training flights in just a few months. In the other accident, a female training pilot was killed allegedly because of wrong instruction. In another such tragic accident, celebrated novelist Selina Hossain lost her dear daughter Lara. People who make every move in a calculated manner will not approve of daredevilry on the part of young men and women. Why take the risk? They would argue in favour of their 'stay safe' attitude.
However little do they know that life is a flicker ready to burn out any moment no matter if one takes risks or not. The prudent kind has not advanced civilisation an inch; it is those breathtakingly walking tight ropes hanging precariously who have actually moved the world ahead. Not many have tasted victory but those who have lost their lives for the cause have helped their followers to take the final decisive steps.
Surely, theirs is not a meaningless sacrifice. Lara, the other girl and Tahmid have charted a course because they had to. This is a nation that has not many successes to its credit. In a country where women are looked down as an inferior species, female pilots specially have points to prove. By opting for the career or responding to their passion, girls like Lara have gate-crashed the male bastion.
A nation in high spirits spread-eagles its ambition in several directions. The more adventurous it is the better for it. Its members want to explore new territories, risks notwithstanding. The Bangalees are not particularly known for adventure. It may have something to do with their economic status.
Things are however changing. Now that this nation has enough money at its disposal for paying for its lust for life, passion and ambition, it is better to put the money for positive yearnings. Unfortunately, those who have money mostly like to wallow in comfort and luxury without the zeal to explore life at its seams. What such proclivity leads to is best illustrated by Roman emperor Nero's indulgence in sensual pleasures.
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