I don't think I've ever seen an actual discussion on these forums. Just individuals having a bit of ignorance, speaking well before they have even considered any pertinent information; individuals who believe they are more than ignorant and attempt to be the "bigger wo/man," then eventually crumble, yelling out facts that, for all purposes, are as it is (Dave's post, for example); individuals who believe they are more than ignorant and calmly give out information, wishing only to eliminate ignorance from the discussion, but who spontaneously erupt when their additions are seemingly ignored; and individuals who just always have something to say. In any event, all these individuals, from what I have seen, end up yelling, adding not much more than chaos into an already chaotic series of events.
"This is the last straw", "I am fed up", "I'd like to see you take this guff", etc.. Its wonderful to know that we are not all robots here. We each have feelings, they each get hurt at times, and we speak forthright to defend them. Are we still able to remember this throughout, or do we lie to ourselves?
- NASA, at the end of the day, seems to be donating alot of money to this program. If they were to ever withdraw their support, there would be a noticeable change in the program.
- So NASA may think it not fair that we are putting down their system of choosing how to allocate such funds, because the fact still remains that they are donating funds they have no obligation to.
- The system to select recipients seems to have been made very objective, because NASA still wants to have some element of fairness in their allocation process, even though it is their money, and they can thus share it however they want.
- Its definitely a fight for many teams to procure sufficient funds to survive a first season.
- So people may feel cheated at times when they see how easily other teams get their money. However, it seems to me that the "easy" is sometimes being confused with a lack of information as to how a team came about acquiring their funds.
- Once someone can effectively say that a team received their funding without expending much effort, one has to fall back to the very realistic statement, "life isn't fair." But that can't happen until, again, one can truly say a team receives funding without expending much effort.
In discussions, even this one, when we react in an uncharacteristic way, are we just relenting against the underlying reality of a give situation, and its deviation from what we see as ideal? Can we say that life wants to be fair? Or is it that we want to make life fair? Shall we further personify such an idea, so we can force it into compliance?
It seems to me that there are facts, the way things appear to be, the way it is desired that things be, and the way things actually are. Maybe we are confusing these? Because as I see it, and as I've said before: NASA's money; therefore, NASA's choice. There are other levels here, and other accusations that seem unmerited, in my opinion, but thats for someone else to argue about. I, for one, will just be happy that NASA sponsors as many teams as they currently do, and that they are continually helping new teams and regionals stand on their own two feet.
I was very serious when writing this post. No sarcasm, implicit ridiculing, nothing like that. If its there, then it is, but was unintentional.