Within minutes of the landing of the GlobalFlyer in Salina Thursday, the Journal-World received an e-mailed column written by a Salina resident affiliated with the Land Institute, a group that focuses on ecology and agriculture.

In the column, titled “Flight to nowhere,” the author dismissed the nonstop solo flight around the world as “an I-in-the-sky stunt by a millionaire adventurer.” He decried everything from the rising costs of commercial airline flights to the amount of jet fuel consumed by GlobalFlyer.

Wow, that is sure the attitude that made America great.

It’s hard to see how anyone — especially a Kansan — could take such a negative view of Steve Fossett’s flight. Although the airplane wasn’t built here, it had many Kansas ties.

Graduates of Kansas University had worked for Scaled Composites, the Burt Rutan company that designed and built the GlobalFlyer. Kansas State University students had the incredible experience of working with the crews on the ground in Salina. The city of Salina got more worldwide publicity than it ever could have afforded to purchase by being chosen as the starting and ending points for the flight. Officials there are hoping they can use the attention they received to attract new business ventures to the former Schilling Air Force Base.

But even more than the tangible benefits Kansas experienced, it’s hard to see how any human can’t get at least a little lift from Steve Fossett being willing to push the envelope and do something that hasn’t been done before. Sure, Fossett is a millionaire, and his prime backer, Sir Richard Branson, is a billionaire. Who else could afford to pull off such a mission? But rather than carp about other ways they should have spent their money, can’t we draw some inspiration from people who are willing to think big and pull off a mission like GlobalFlyer?

The benefits of this mission may not be immediately apparent to most laymen, but whenever humans venture into uncharted territory, they learn something. Even if that knowledge doesn’t seem to have a lot of practical applications, the ability to break records and conquer challenges is a continuing testament to the human spirit.

The same human spirit that inspired Fossett to fly an airplane around the world will be necessary to inspire the innovative solutions to deal with many issues that face us here on the ground. Rather than beat it down, we should do everything we can to support the kind of bold thinking that drives humans to rise above our perceived limits and seek something better.