To Achieve Your Dreams Remember Your ABC’s

Avoid negative people, places, things and habits

Believe in yourself
Consider things in every angle
Don’t give up and don’t give in
Enjoy life today, yesterday is gone, and tomorrow may never come
Family and friends and hidden treasures, seek them and enjoy their riches
Give more than you planned to
Hang on to your dreams
Ignore those who try to discourage you
Just do it
Keep trying n matter how hard it seems it will get easier
Love yourself first and most
Make it happen
Never lie, cheat or steal, always strike a fair deal
Open your eyes and see things as they really are
Practice makes perfect
Quitters never win, and winners never quit
Read, study and learn everything important in your life
Stop procrastinating
Take control of your destiny
Understand yourself in order to better understand others
Visualize it
Want it more than anything
Excellerate your efforts
Zero in on your target
 To Achieve Your Dreams Remember Your ABC’s

Avoid negative people, places, things and habits

Believe in yourself

Consider things in every angle

Don’t give up and don’t give in

Enjoy life today, yesterday is gone, and tomorrow may never come

Family and friends and hidden treasures, seek them and enjoy their riches

Give more than you planned to

Hang on to your dreams

Ignore those who try to discourage you

Just do it

Keep trying n matter how hard it seems it will get easier

Love yourself first and most

Make it happen

Never lie, cheat or steal, always strike a fair deal

Open your eyes and see things as they really are

Practice makes perfect

Quitters never win, and winners never quit

Read, study and learn everything important in your life

Stop procrastinating

Take control of your destiny

Understand yourself in order to better understand others

Visualize it

Want it more than anything

Excellerate your efforts

Zero in on your target

3 D’s in Life

Determination

Dedication

Discipline

I WON BECAUSE I LOST

 “I have lived to thanks god that all of my prayer have not been answered”

Jean Ingelow

It started as dream, some 25 years ago. Before. I watched my heros with names like

Shephered, Glenn, and Grissom climd into phone-booth size capsules and then launch into

space atop blazing rockets. The astronauts set out to explore a new frontier; I began to

explore a new dream.

I knew I wanted to do that—I wanted to be an astronaut, I wanted to fly in space. But

I didn’t have the “right stuff”- I didn’t have a college degree, nor was I an accomplished test

pilot. To make the matter worst I was only 13 years old1 but that didn’t stop me from

dreaming.

Coming from a small, conservative coal mining town and having a very limited view

of the world, I did what many other young people did. I graduated from high school and

college and began to work as a science teacher only eight miles from where I was born. But

my dream of flying in space never died. New heroes and ne manned missions kept me glued

to the TV set during every space flight. I always envisioned myself in those capsules soaring

into space, maybe……. Someday.

But as years went by, my realistic side told me that my dream of flying in space

would not be fulfilled. As a science teacher, I then took on a new goal of sparking interest in

space exploration in my students. Maybe one of them would someday fly in space because I

inspired them with my dream.

 Then it happened! In early 1985, light lightning bolt from the sky, the White House

announced that President Reagan was directing NASA to begin the search for an ordinary

citizen to fly into space on board a space shuttle mission.

The President further specified that this citizen would be a teacher. I was a teacher

and I was an ordinary citizen! Did this mean that I had “the right stuff”? Would this be my

chance to fulfill my lifelong dream?

Two weeks later, NASA announced that any teacher interested in competing for the

honor of being the first ordinary citizen and teacher in space should write to tgem to request

an application. That very same day, I sent my request to Washington… Express Mail! I

wondered if other teaches had the same dream.

Filling out the application was a long, thought-provoking process. Even for a teacher,

who was used to giving rather than taking test, completing a 25 paged application was not an

easy task. I spent days and nights trying to think of what answers NASA would be looking

for. I answered every question as if my life depended on it-little that I know that it did.

After I dropped my completed application into the mailbox, I learned that many other

teachers were hoping to live out their dream by being chosen to be a part of the crew flight

51-L the space shuttle challenger. More than 43 000 applications request were received by

NASA. What were my chances? Every day, I ran to the mail box to see if I had survived the

agency’s scrutiny. NASA took several weeks to review the 11 000 submitted application, but

then it came… an official-looking envelope with NASA’s logo in the upper left-hand corner.

I’d waited so long for this news, and now that I had it, I was afraid to open the envelope.

What if it was a bad news? I prayed that the news would be good as I excitedly read the

letter.
 My prayers were answered! I survived the first cut! NASA wanted to know more

about me. My confidence soared, and so did the support from my family, my students and the

people in my community. This was really happening to me!

During the few weeks the realization of my dreams came closer and closer as NASA

put me through a series of physical and psychological test. When they were completed there

was more waiting, more praying. I knew that I was getting closer to my dream. I could now

clearly see my name written next to those of dick Scobee, Judy Resnik, Michael Smith and

the other astronauts assigned to the challenger flight.

Each step of the way, I shared my experience with my family, my students and my

community. The closer I got to being chosen, the more people share in my excitement people

envisioned me as the one who would put my small community of 2 000 people on the map.

My dream also become their dream. I couldn’t let them down now.

I finally received the call I had prayed for. NASA informed me that they have chosen

me to attend their special astronautics training program at the Kennedy Space Center! My

confidence soared as I knew that I would be the one who would be the first teacher in space.

An elite group it was, from 11,000 applicants to fewer than 100 men and women with

the same dream, gathered for the final evaluation. Only men and women with the same

dream, gathered for the final evaluation. Only one of us would have our own dream fulfilled.

It had to be me. Not only was this my dream; it was the dream of my students, my family and

my community. Friendly but fiercely competitive is the way I would describe these chosen

few. We never knew when we were being tested and evaluated by NASA, so we were always

on guard. The smallest task became a competitive challenge to each one of us. Then there

were a simulators, the claustrophobia tests, the dexterity exercises and the motion sickness
experiments, all designed to see which one of us had “the right stuff “. Which one of us

would best endure these final tests? God, please let it be me, I prayed, I want this so badly!

When our training was over, we said good-bye to each other, wished each other luck

and began the final wait to see who would be chosen. This select few shared an experience

that few people will ever get to share. We shared a special bonding, a special caring for each

other, but deep down, each of us prayed that we would be the one to be chosen to fly the

Challenger mission. I was sure that no one prayed for that dream more than I did. We all went

home to wait.

Then came the devastating news. I would not be the first teacher to fly in space

NASA had chosen a teacher from Concord, New Hampshire, by the name of Christa

McAuliffe. I had lost. My lifelong dream was over. Depression, loss of confidence my and

anger replaced my euphoria as I questioned everything: Why God, why not me? What part of

the right stuff did I lack? Why had life dealt me such a cruel blow? How could I face my

students, my family and my community? Why did my dream have to end when I was so

close?

As I had done so many times when I was a child, I turned to my family to ease my

pain. As I told my father my devastating news, he looked at me, as loving

father does, and said” Everything happens for a reason”. What kind of help was this?

How could he be so matter-of-fact about my dream when I was dying inside? Why couldn’t

he do better than that? Why couldn’t he take this pain away? I just didn’t understand.

Tuesday, January 28, 1986, the day I had dreamed about for 25 years, found me

gathered with those that I had shared my failed dream with: my students, my family and

people from the community, along with members of the media. We all came to witness

history and watch the historic flight of teacher Christa McAuliffe. We watch the shuttle
challenger lifted off the launch pad on what seemed like a perfect launch. As it cleared that

launch tower. I challenged my dream one final time. God, I would do anything to be in that

shuttle, Why can’t it be me? Seventy-three seconds later, God answered all of my questions

and invalidated all of my doubts as the Challenger exploded, killing all on board, including

teacher Christa McAuliffe. My father’s words, “Everything happens for a reason” instantly

came back to me. I was not chosen for that flight no matter how much I wanted it or prayed

for it, because the Devine Plan included another mission in life. I was not a loser; I was a

winner! I had won because I lost.

Today, I travel throughout the world speaking to adult and youth audiences about

life’s lessons inspired by losing my dream. As a result of the Challenger experience, my life

changed forever. The pain and disappointment that I endured inspired me to help people find

their own strengths in the midst of life’s challenges. The loss of seven friends in that disaster

has driven me to continue the inspirational good that can come out of what appears to be

failure.

Frank Slazak