For All Mankind – Monologue (Kelly)

A monologue from the tv series created by Ronald D. Moore, Matt Wolpert, and Ben Nedvi

KELLY

On April 3rd 1972, a C5A Galaxy transport plane with 243 infants, children, volunteers, and crew took off from Saigon as part of Operation Babylift.

1 minute and 23 seconds later the plane crashed into a field. 47 children were rescued, I was one of them.

There’s these moments that shape our lives, moments you have no control over.

If the pilot had banked left instead of right, if the south had won the war in Vietnam, if the Russians hadn’t beat us to the moon.

I always thought things happen for a reason, good and bad there’s a design, a plan. But lately I have started to wonder if maybe we just say that to make ourselves feel better.

Maybe we’re just drifting from moment to moment trying to do what we think is right. To give some meaning to our lives. So who am I?

I’m Han Nguyen born in Saigon, daughter of Le and Bin Nguyen. And I’m Kelly Anne Baldwin, raised in Houston, daughter of Karen and Ed Baldwin.

A child of the space program. Is this the journey I was meant to be on? Applying to the naval academy following in my father’s footsteps.

I don’t know. All I know is the more we look back wondering what might have been, the less we’re living for today.

And the future, John Lennon probably put it best. Everything will be okay in the end. And if it’s not okay it’s not the end.

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