I've had the DVD for The Right Stuff for more than a decade, but hadn't watched it in a long time. I popped it in this morning, and this scene really jumped out at me.

Background: Chuck Yeager passed up on the opportunity to be an astronaut, and he's having second thoughts about it. He's at the end of his career anyway, astronaut or no.

His wife Glennis sees him obviously feeling blue and says this to him:

You know, I always hated flying. When I met you, you were already a pilot, so I never had a complaint coming. When you went up in those planes, me and the kids... We never had any insurance except a couple months' pay in case anything ever happened. I always hated all that talk about insurance. The government spends all kinds of time and money teaching you pilots to be fearless, but... They don't spend a god damn penny teaching you how to be the fearless wife of a test pilot.

But I guess I liked it. I guess I liked the kind of man who could push the outside of the envelope.

But I never could stand a man who was one of those "remember whens." Those bitter guys that just sit around thinking about old times. If I ever see that happening... I'm going right out the front door... And you'll never catch me.

The book was written in 1979. I don't know if that specific speech is in the book or just the movie, but damn - we talk all the time about the sort of attitude Glennis is portrayed as having.

If I post a thread here saying, "never let your girl see you indecisive or conflicted or weak because she'll lose attraction" the blue pillers flip their shit. But it's true - and, this knowledge has been around for a long time.

I don't come here and say, "oh woe is me, I have to constantly maintain a front of confidence and strength." That's not my point when I come to TRP. My point is, this is just the way the world works, and I'm okay with it so long as I know what the rules are. I can totally do this. It's just funny to me that all my life people have denied that this is the way the world works.