The Eagle Has Landed
Yesterday,
between all of the travel and lecturing, I had the opportunity to connect with
one of the most beautiful people on the planet. Her name is Sandra Evers Manly and her day
job is with Northrup Grumman as the VP of corporate responsibility. In this job, she is a woman of purpose and she allows
that purpose to transform the lives of everyone she meets. I love this woman
and the way she changes the world around her.
Whenever I mention
her name to someone who knows her, that person lights up and talks about how they now
feed the homeless, or volunteer at a community garden. Folks tell me how
their job performance has increased because of the skills and love she shares
on the job. Everyone should have a colleague like Sandra.
I also had
the opportunity yesterday to sit and watch the Homegoing Celebration of Neil
Armstrong. When I was still a girl, we believed that someday man would go to the moon and I
can remember the day it happened. On that day, everyone stopped doing what they
were doing to pay attention and watch.
According to
the folks who loved him, Neil didn’t feel that he deserved the honor of being
the first to step on another world, but everyone else knew that he was the one
to do it. At the age of 12 he had already built a wind tunnel and knew that he
wanted to fly and then fly some more.
When Diana
Krull sang Fly me to The Moon, I thought back to the day we all watched Neil
and the others take the giant leap for mankind.
Whenever I
land anywhere, I call home to tell my folks that I have arrived. They know that
they will hear my favorite phrase; “The beagle has landed, I repeat the beagle
has landed.”
Neil and
Sandra are a lot alike; yes one is a white man and the other is a black woman
(I’ll let you figure out which is which,) but both are live out their dreams
in epic proportions; Neil went to the moon and in doing so he taught us all to believe, and Sandra enables others to fly as
high as possible to be the best they can be.
I got on my
third flight of the day and landed for the third time, but it was late, so I
sent a text message; The beagle has landed.
Be you, Dream well, Fly
high
Bertice Berry, PhD.
I am excited, Sandra's job sounds a lot like what I want to do.
ReplyDeleteDr. Berry, I had the honor of attending the Northrop Grumman Women's Conference to hear you speak. Your ability to make me laugh, cry, listen and learn is one that I have never experienced. I have taken a page from your book and Sandra's and am looking forward to contributing to the women in my community! May the spirit continue to uplift and guide you in all you do! Michelle Zetina
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