Theres two anniversaries. One behind and one ahead. The one ahead in September challenged our country to Send a Man to Moon because it was hard. The one behind in July saw that goal completed with a giant leap away from our planet with a small step on another world. So why care? Surely, theres enough problems on our troubled little sphere. We flip on the TV and flip past the dead children in Gaza and the rubble in Syria, past the destroyed monuments and lives ruined in Iraq. How long does Afghanistan Have? Our anthropocentric moment is eating away at our habitat, the seas are running out of fish, and the forests out of trees. The air is becoming poison. The Apollo program itself was bourne out of a massive dick waving contest with the Soviet Union, in a race to prove who could destroy our little hamlet in the night the fastest. Science is still used in the service of security. We have enough problems here at home. So why care? Why care about these two milestones? There exists a tribe in Papua New Guinea. A tribe totally ignorant of things like cell phones, wi-fi, frozen food, and selfies. But they knew the name Apollo 11, the names Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins. They knew that for one magic moment, all of Humanitys inheritance was used to send three pioneers out the dunes of the moon. And they ask, what are we doing today. Yes, space travel was bourne out of the desire to do violence to our brothers on the planet, just as heart surgery came out of a desire to heal the bullet wounds from the trenches in World War One and Plastic Surgery from the gruesome burn wounds Fighter pilots endured when their planes exploded in oil and fire. But in each case, we made the technology transcend its original purpose for the betterment of humanity. Why care? We still havent solved our most ancient problems. We are flawed creatures. We create fantasies and then defend them to the death. We start with harsh words and end with bombs. We ostracize those who dont agree with us. We imply we are worth saving, then trash the environment we depend on. We protest frakking, but drive jeeps. We interpret the meaningless in our favor and enforce the frivolous. What makes us worth saving? Why is Space Technology different? Why Care, when we still havent solved our most ancient problems? Space Travel reminds us that there will be a tomorrow. Space travel asks to step out of the quagmire of our own making, and to build, not just imagine, a future. The very technical problems we face, require real solutions, which we must plan for. It demands we stop living within the fantasies of borders and race, that we pool together all of our knowledge, like we did once before, and ascend to the best nature of our beings. Space reminds us that there is no answer. That in the face of a meaningless universe, we must construct our own meaning. In the nation of the free, it offers us the ultimate chance for self definition. And when I look upon the whole of Human History, what do I see? Curiosity. Once upon a time, one single country decided to go to the moon for selfish reasons. I see children in Africa, Asia, Latin America, Palestine, looking skyward, towards that silver plume of flame fleeing back home to the stars. Now Imagine what would happen if an entire planet rose up in curiosity. -Esteban Fernandez
Posted on: Fri, 01 Aug 2014 09:22:33 +0000
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