Sally Ride an inspiration

Sally Ride - the first American woman astronaut died on Monday, she was a woman of many accomplishments and achievements, part of her obituary;

"Sally was a national hero and a powerful role model. She inspired generations of young girls to reach for the stars," President Barack Obama said in a statement.
NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, a former astronaut, said Ride "broke barriers with grace and professionalism — and literally changed the face of America's space program."
"The nation has lost one of its finest leaders, teachers and explorers," he said in a statement.
Ride was a physicist, writer of five science books for children and president of her own company. She had also been a professor of physics at the University of California in San Diego.
She was selected as an astronaut candidate in 1978, the same year she earned her doctorate in physics from Stanford University. She beat out five women to be the first American female in space. Her first flight came two decades after the Soviets sent a woman into space"

A Doctorate in Physics, a writer, a Professor, and president of her own company. These are major accomplishments for anyone person and for a woman. She inspired young girls to go into science and mathematics when girls were routinely told; "Girls aren't smart enough for math, science why don't you become a __________ instead"

""Sally literally could have done anything with her life. She decided to devote her life to education and to inspiring young people. To me, that's such a powerful thing. It's extraordinarily admirable," said Maria Zuber, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who heads the Grail mission"

Inspire she did. She will be missed, by her friends and family and by those she did inspire.

The truly sad discussion today is not: how much she will be missed or what legacy she leaves behind in girls, now women, that are pioneers in their own fields, but the discussion today is - why didn't she tell the world she was gay? It seems to answer itself doesn't it? She wanted to keep her relationship sacred, letting that part of her life become and oasis after stressful days of "being a pioneer for women" . She chose not to become a "poster girl" for other peoples agendas and for that I admire her.
The search engines have already switched from Sally Ride obituary, Sally Ride a legacy, to Sally Ride Partner, Gay Astronauts: Sally Ride's Death Highlights LGBT People In NASA.

There will be people who choose to shout from the mountain tops what they are, and there will be those who will choose to live their lives quietly. and that is what is all boils down to - how WE choose to live - not how others want us to live.

I personally advocate rights for the LGBT community, legal, and spiritual. I am also for the individuals/couples right to choose how they live their lives in the community - quietly or loudly. No one else can make that choice for them. No one should.

Debra Kellerman