One of my favorite West Wing quotes

As you know, I have a fondness for West Wing. Mostly, I love the first four seasons. They've inspired me over the years. There's one quote that I love and adore. It's by C.J., and it's from the episode "Galileo." This title is fitting as my daughter is currently fascinated with space!

Quick bit of background: Schools from all over the US tuned in to watch the first images of Galileo V from space. The problem is that Galileo V isn't sending any signal, and the scientists don't know what's wrong or where it's at in space.

(I pulled the quote from another webpage, and I'm a little surprised at the poor grammar. However, CJ does deliver it with passion and fast so the poor grammar might be intended. Nope. I can't leave it wrong. I'm fixing it. Okay. Actually, I don't want to get rid of the run-on sentence because it adds emphasis to the scene.)

"We have at our disposal a captive audience of schoolchildren. Some of them don't go to the blackboard or raise their hand because they think they're going to be wrong. I think you should say to these kids, "You think you get it wrong sometimes? You should come down here and see how the big boys do it." I think you should tell them you haven't given up hope, and that it may turn up, but in the meantime, you want NASA to put its best people in the room, and you want them to start building Galileo VI. Some of them will laugh and most of them won't care, but for some they might honestly see that it's about going to the blackboard and raising your hand."

It's about going to the blackboard. It's about trying. I don't know what the hell I'm doing with this whole homeschooling thing, and I certainly don't have a clue if my daughter is actually learning a thing, but I am going to the blackboard to try something new when the first try at regular school didn't work.

Go to the blackboard. Try.

(NOTE: No worries; the homeschooling thing is going fine. Our daughter has informed she doesn't intend to go back to school next year.)