By Brian Harmon
One of my earliest aviation memories goes back to the early 1990s, when my hometown hosted an airshow featuring the U.S. Army Golden Knights. I was six or seven, standing in the grass with wide eyes as parachutes dotted the sky like bursts of gold. After one of the jumps, a member of the team took the time to kneel beside me and show me how he packed his parachute. I didn’t understand the mechanics, but I understood the magic. That small moment — a soldier, a smile, a shared story — sparked something that’s lasted my entire life.
So when the Golden Knights were announced for this year’s North Alabama AirFest, I knew it was a show I couldn’t miss. But this fall, as the federal government shutdown stretches on, airshows across the country are being forced to cancel or scale back. Military participation — from the Golden Knights to the Thunderbirds and the Blue Angels — has been suspended.
The Hard Costs We Can Measure
When we talk about shutdowns, we tend to focus on the hard costs — the measurable pain points: federal employees missing paychecks, shuttered national parks, stalled loan applications, delayed government services. These are the costs that economists can count and the media can graph.
The Soft Costs We Can’t
But the soft costs — the ones that don’t appear in any budget — may be just as damaging over time.
When a kid misses an airshow, that’s not just a weekend disappointment. It’s a missed moment of inspiration. That child won’t see the fighter pilot slicing across the sky, or feel the ground shake as a jet roars overhead. He won’t meet the A&P mechanic who explains how they keep those aircraft flying, or shake the hand of a service member who embodies discipline and pride.
Those encounters plant seeds — seeds of curiosity, ambition, even patriotism. When they don’t happen, something subtle but important is lost.
Multiply that across the country — the school trips to NASA canceled, the local veterans who don’t get to share their stories at an airshow, the STEM demonstrations that never take place — and the “soft cost” grows into something profound: a slow erosion of connection between Americans and the institutions that once inspired them.
The Erosion of Patriotism
Patriotism isn’t born in a textbook. It’s built through experiences — hearing the thunder of a jet engine, watching a flag parachute drift to earth, seeing ordinary people do extraordinary things in service of something larger than themselves.
When government shutdowns strip away these moments year after year, it doesn’t just silence the skies. It weakens the very sense of shared pride those skies once inspired.
That’s the tragedy hidden beneath the headlines. The loss of paychecks is temporary. The loss of inspiration can last a generation.
The Bottom Line
Airshows, outreach programs, and public demonstrations are more than entertainment. They are living, breathing connections between the American public and those who serve them.
So while Congress argues over budgets and blame, the rest of us are left watching the skies grow quiet — wondering how many future pilots, engineers, and dreamers are being lost in the noise.
“When the jets stop flying, the economy takes a hit. But when the inspiration stops flying, the country does too.”
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