Worries for the safety of my circle

We worry.

Women worry. People worry about the safety of others, and they should. That is a psychological fact of life for perfectly normal people. And our levels of worry are in concentric circles outward from ourselves. Moving outward in order of concerns beyond myself, I worry most about those people to whom I am closest: my immediate family, my family of origin, my closest friends, then my neighbors, my city, my nation and the people of the planet. It is in that general order that I become anxious for people's safety and well-being.


"Worry" calls up 8 results from Dictionary.com. (see title link above). The way I mean it in the title of this post is # 7: "a cause of uneasiness or anxiety; trouble," from the Random House dictionary. "Worry, annoy, harass all mean to disturb or interfere with someone's comfort or peace of mind" is the way the word is described in the synomym section.


Worry about getting my sister through -My sister was going to attempt to drive from our home state to our house through the storm in Colorado . Before I learned this morning that she had decided not to try to make such a hazardous trip, I worried most about her safety. But I also worried that she would be stranded in some bleak motel on Christmas, etc., etc. CNN.com has the story of the blizzard that caused my sister to remember that "discretion is the better part of valor." To quote,

A major snowstorm blew across Colorado toward the Plains on Wednesday, dumping more than a foot of snow in some places and forcing the airport to close, stranding thousands of holiday travelers.
Authorities at times shut down major highways in parts of six states.
The National Weather Service posted blizzard warnings for most of eastern Colorado and adjoining sections of Nebraska and Kansas. A day earlier, the storm had pummeled New Mexico with up to a foot of snow.

Worry about getting the Discovery crew home safely - The STS-116 mission landing is again threatened by the weather at several potential landing sights. Bringing Discovery down to earth in one piece is NASA's challenge for tomorrow or the next day. The story quotes from Yahoo!News:

NASA managers may have to decide between three imperfect choices as they try to select a landing site for the shuttle Discovery.
The forecast calls for low clouds and showers at Kennedy Space Center, where space shuttle is slated to land.
Crosswinds are expected at the primary back-up landing site at Edwards Air Force Base in California.
The weather looks good at a seldom-used back up site in New Mexico, but its lack of equipment would give NASA logistical headaches it would rather avoid.

Worry Model- NASA has an organizational model for allaying worry that could be used by individuals, groups and governments alike. It will be used to decide the best landing sight for STS-116. And it was recently used to make the decision about whether to undertake a mission to repair the Hubble Telescope. Assessing the risk to astronauts is always paramount with the space program. Many have died in this very risky scientific venture. To quote from MSNBC.com,

6 p.m. CT Oct 27, 2006 - CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -
The signs are looking promising for the Hubble Space Telescope, once thought doomed because of worries over astronaut safety. NASA set plans for a big announcement Tuesday after top officials met for three hours Friday.
. . . The issue that NASA officials had to wrestle with was a matter of space shuttle safety. If the spacecraft heading to the aging telescope has a problem, there is no place to go for safe haven, unlike NASA's 14 remaining shuttle missions to the international space station.
. . . The issue that NASA officials had to wrestle with was a matter of space shuttle safety. If the spacecraft heading to the aging telescope has a problem, there is no place to go for safe haven, unlike NASA's 14 remaining shuttle missions to the international space station.

Worry Model elements - NASA decided to go ahead after systematically assessing the risk to astronauts of such a mission. NASA's 10/31/06 news release summarized the decision-making process (elements of the model in bold face):

NASA Administrator Michael Griffin announced plans for a fifth servicing mission to Hubble Tuesday during a meeting with agency employees at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. Goddard is the agency center responsible for managing Hubble.
"We have conducted a detailed analysis of the performance and procedures necessary to carry out a successful Hubble repair mission over the course of the last three shuttle missions. What we have learned has convinced us that we are able to conduct a safe and effective servicing mission to Hubble," Griffin said. "While there is an inherent risk in all spaceflight activities, the desire to preserve a truly international asset like the Hubble Space Telescope makes doing this mission the right course of action.". . .
(Gerstenmeyer quote) "The Hubble mission will be an exciting mission for the shuttle team. The teams have used the experiences gained from Return to Flight and station assembly to craft a very workable Hubble servicing flight. The inspection and repair techniques, along with spacewalk planning from station assembly, were invaluable in showing this mission is feasible," said Associate Administrator for Space Operations Bill Gerstenmaier. "There are plenty of challenges ahead as the teams do the detailed planning and figure the best way to provide for a launch on need capability for the mission. There is no question that this highly motivated and dedicated flight control team will meet the challenge."

Worry about getting U.S. armed forces home safely - NASA's worry model should be used by the Pentagon and our current president (OCP). Getting soldiers out of the enemy's reach is the agenda of many U.S. citizens, and should be on the agendas of U.S. leaders. Preventing a larger group of armed service personnel from undue exposure ro risk is part of the current debate about a so-called "surge" of more troops into Irag. I quote from yesterday's USA Today article:

New Defense Secretary Robert Gates, in an unannounced trip to the battlefront, discussed a possible infusion of more U.S. troops into Iraq with American commanders on Wednesday but said no decisions have been made.
On just his third day in his post, Gates journeyed to Iraq armed with a mandate from President Bush to help forge a new Iraq war strategy. His goal is get advice from his top military commanders on a new strategy for the increasingly unpopular, costly and chaotic war — a conflict that Bush conceded Tuesday the U.S. is not winning.
"We discussed the obvious things," Gates told reporters after meeting with top U.S. generals. "We discussed the possibility of a surge and the potential for what it might accomplish."

Worry Model elements for military planners - Here is how you do it, guys:

1. Do a detailed analysis of the performance and procedures necessary to carry out a troop "surge." Assess the risks to preserving our most important assets, our personnel.
2. Use it to determine whether a safe and effective mission can be accomplished. Is such a mission the right course of action? Is it feasible, given the present assets?
3. If so, learn from previous experience to craft a workable and very detailed plan. What tactics have been successful in the past. What is the best way to do this?
4. Only a skilled, dedicated and highly motivated team is up to making such decisions.

Therefore, much rides on the shoulders of Bob Gates, the new Secretary of Defense and his military leaders. The team leader (OCP) has had no idea, up to this point, of how to use the Worry Model.

Technorati tags: bush iraq family life news news and politics travel worry