Houston, We Have a Problem…And Don’t We All…

By Mike Glenn [I apologize to Mike for not putting this into the post until I was notified. The tweets all had Mike.]

The iconic phrase, “Houston, we have a problem,” was calmly spoken by astronaut Jim Lovell, commander of the Apollo 13 mission to the moon. When the crew realized there had been an explosion in the service module of their spacecraft, Lovell alerted Houston of the problem. What followed was a miracle of leadership, technology and the human spirit. After several days of “if this doesn’t work we lose the astronauts,” Apollo 13 returned safely home.

From those tense moments, a meme entered the English lexicon. The calm, steady, even understated tone of Jim Lovell saying, “Houston, we have a problem” became the way everyone announced something had gone wrong.  Did your girlfriend break up with you? Houston, we have a problem. Didn’t pass your final? Houston, we have a problem. Lose your job? Run out of gas? Any problem, every problem, the proper response was to calmly say, “Houston, we have a problem.” 

It was an iconic moment. Thousands of miles from earth, his spacecraft mortally wounded from the explosion, his mission canceled and now, everyone’s attention turned in a laser focus to simply getting the crew back. All that happened when  Jim Lovell said, “Houston, we have a problem.”

Because he named the problem, NASA’s teams were alerted they were now facing a life and death situation. Engineers were called in from home. Other team members were flown in from around the nation. Several dads of my friends who worked on critical systems of the Apollo mission were flown out to Houston. Everyone had one focus. Get the crew home. 

Jim Lovell called those resources to attention by admitting there was a problem. 

Which is the one thing we won’t do. We simply won’t admit we have a problem. Any problems. What would have happened if Lovell hadn’t admitted something was wrong? What if, when Houston called the spacecraft and said they had noticed some alarming readings on their instruments, Lovell had said, “Nope. We’re fine up here.”

Don’t laugh. Anytime we ask someone how they are doing, they will say, “Fine.” Do the math. What are the chances that everyone you talk to tomorrow is fine? No one is worried about an impending medical test? No parent worried about a child? No former addict worried about hanging onto their sobriety?

The hard truth is everyone we meet tomorrow will be dealing with something. We’ll be dealing with something. We lie to each other. We’ll lie to ourselves. We try to pretend everything is fine when we know it’s not. Everyone knows it’s not. 

But no one will admit it. No one will tell Houston there’s a problem. Which means the problem never gets solved. The first step in solving a problem is admitting there’s a problem. In order to make progress, we have to be able to say, “This is a problem.”

American English is filled with euphemisms. We say soft words in an effort to make hard truths more bearable. People don’t “die.” They “pass away.” We don’t lose our jobs, we’re “between opportunities.” 

And we don’t have problems. We have “challenges,” “setbacks,’ or “slight discomforts.” No, we have problems. We can’t solve the problem if we never admit we have problems. 

Did you have word problems in math class? I hated those. Remember? We would be given a problem to solve, but instead of a mathematical equation, we’re told a story. A train is leaving New York traveling 50 miles per hour. A second train is leaving LA traveling 75 miles an hour. When will the two trains meet?  

From that information, we’re supposed to be able to construct the correct formula that gives us the right answer. According to my algebra teacher, this is a required life skill. While I doubted her at the time, it turns out she’s right. Success in life is found in the solving of problems. 

So, write down your problem. From that story, write out the formula and then, work out your answer. For instance, work has demanded too much time and you’ve neglected your family. Write that on a piece of paper. 

Then, work through to a solution. 

You can decline certain projects. 

You can stop working earlier in the day. 

You can plan a date with your spouse. 

You get the idea. Once you name the problem, you can solve the problem. Jim Lovell became the hero by naming the problem. Now, you be the hero. Make the call. 

Houston, we have a problem.  

Naming the problem is the first step in solving it. So, name it.