Not a Curtain Call: Legacy, Applause, and the View from the Wings
At midnight, everything resets—without fanfare, without finality. July 18 arrives bearing borrowed weight: the birthday of John Glenn (1921-2016), first American to circle the earth and US Senator from the great state of Ohio.
I remember John Glenn—not in conversation or collaboration, but in presence. He was around NASA when I was there, preparing for his celebrated return to space at age 77. The headlines called it history. The internal atmosphere? Not quite celebratory.
The flight, while advertised as an experiment to learn about the effects of space on older people (a worthy topic), it was seen by many as a publicity play. Moreover, it took a rarely available seat from younger astronauts needing experience to rise through the ranks. Glenn had already reached the stars; the rest of them were still climbing. And while his contributions were vast—undeniable—it was hard not to notice the friction. Legacy, it turns out, can be both earned and inconvenient.
That year (1998), Houston renamed NASA Road One to “John Glenn Highway.” A fanfare of signage. But just while he was there. Then it quietly changed back. I’ve always wondered if he noticed—and if he saw it not as insult, but as truth. Some tributes are just props, placed temporarily for the optics of reverence.
It’s not my role to diminish what Glenn achieved. The courage, the pioneering work, the enduring public trust. But being close enough to catch the murmur behind the monument taught me something: legacy isn't always what the plaque says. Sometimes it's the hallway conversations. The quiet dissent. The reshuffled priorities that didn’t make it into the press release.
There’s a Potemkin quality to certain honors—the beautiful facades built quickly to impress, not to last. And today, I’m thinking about how we recognize brilliance. How we paint greatness. How we edit memory.
In publishing, in caregiving, in the long stewardship of family and words, I’ve learned: applause doesn't always arrive on cue. Nor does it need to. The real work stands, even when the spotlight misses it.
So, here’s to the legacies formed outside ceremony. To the ones seen from the wings. To the effort that endures, whether or not the road is ever renamed.
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