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In reply to the discussion: We should have been colonizing the solar system by now. [View all]fxmakeupguy
(9 posts)I am in total agreement with your sentiments, my friend. And although I understand the "we need to feed our people"-type arguments -- which are legitimate -- if we allow ourselves to focus on any one area for too long we become blind to other possibilities. This is, I fear, what happened to our space program. Politicians of ALL stripes got caught up in the minutae of policy and war and reelection and God knows what else and, without a strong lobby or a good publicity campaign, NASA got screwed.
I'm old enough to remember watching Mr. Armstrong set foot on the moon (grainy and sideways as the camera was) and can almost out-geek Tom Hanks in my knowledge of Apollo stuff. Having worked with celebrities for 30 years, I am never star-struck. But when I met Buzz Aldrin...? Holy Crap was I a little kid all over again (in my 40's at the time, too).
Yes, taken as a number by itself $30 billion is a LOT of money. But as a multi-national event it would be small potatoes AND has the potential to bring the world together in excitement and support that was simply not possible in 1969.
As that 8 year-old glued to the tv watching Neil and Buzz I would never have imagined that in my 50's we would have done nothing more than orbit the Earth for the last several decades.
I'm a proud, liberal Democrat! This is a subject that TRANSCENDS politics. At least it should have been. We as a people -- not just Americans, but ALL of us -- need heroes. Exploration has always been fraught with risk, but it's that risk and those explorers that make us who we are as human beings. I fear that we lost our opportunity many years ago to make this "leap" to the stars and I'm saddened by that. I still look up at the night sky and wonder what it would be like.
Please, my fellow liberal friends -- don't criticize those of us who dream big simply because our dreams may be different than yours. I still feed the hungry, help the homeless, fight for equality for all and do whatever I can to help my neighbors all over the world. Perhaps it's that view I had as a child of the "Big Blue Marble" peeking over the lunar surface on Apollo 8 that made me think of all human beings as my neighbors -- not just those immediately next to me.
I do NOT profess to be any better than anyone else (I'm not, trust me). I am not "holier-than-thou". I simply believe in the same dreams I had all those many moons ago that man can -- and SHOULD -- continue to venture outwards. There will always be risk and there will always be unscrupulous people willing to cash in on whatever good comes of that exploration -- but PLEASE don't let that stop us from trying. I'm afraid that I won't live long enough to see us break that "ignorance/unwillingness barrier" and put men and women on Mars, the moon, Europa and beyond. But the little boy in me sure HOPES I live to see it...even if that little boy is too old to go himself.
Thank you for letting me vent. Neil Atmstrong was a man -- no more, no less. His passing is sad. But he DARED. He took a huge risk. We have people like that amongst us right now, but we need someone bold enough, courageous enough, smart enough, and yes -- obnoxious enough to grab some headlines and make little kids (and those of us who are still little kids at heart) believe in the impossible again. Pretty soon, we won't have anyone left who remembers this all firsthand and the opportunity will disappear. I hope that doesn't happen.
I will walk outside tonight and wink at the moon for Neil. And for all those who believed and who STILL believe.