" One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind"
Who can forget those words or where they were in 1969 when uttered by Neil Armstrong on the moon? Given the state of the world today, I have to lean towards the small step aspect since it was over 50 years ago. We have been somewhat pathetic on the leaps for mankind front both at home and abroad.I happened to be on a post-university tour of Europe before deciding on a career. My girlfriend and I were in a campsite in France listening to the broadcast in French on a transistor radio which sat on a fellow camper's car roof. That was another small step - the transistor. (If you read this girlfriend, I'd love a copy of our pictures!)
Have we come a long way? Was that and the Challenger and all it cost in money and lives worth it? Some would say yes in the same vane as the War of Independence; the Civil War; and all World Wars were worth it. Lives are always lost in accomplishing greatness and historic change.
So in trying to decide what to write about today I glanced again at the headlines. The next moon shot was front and centre (British spelling folks. Chill out.)
Why "Artemis?" Who is this? In case you don't know (I didn't) she was a Greek goddess (Roman counterpart was Diana). Look her up: ps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artemis; Artemis • Greek Goddess of the Hunt and Moon - Facts and Information (greekgodsandgoddesses.net). Apparently she is a goddess of the hunt , the wilderness, wild animals, nature, vegetation, childbirth, care of children, and chastity. As Diana, she was a virgin Goddess of wildlife (how did they know?) and patroness of hunting; She is twin sister to Apollo and daughter of Zeus, God of Gods!
No wonder religion is still in a mess and believers of one fight believers of another. No wonder women are better multi-taskers than men. Anyway NASA seem to have chosen a great name especially the sister of Apollo element and Goddess of the moon.
Now for the good stuff. Should we even be going there again? Some would say that all of those resources should be utilized here on Earth to help solve today's problems. There is one thing for certain. If this immense effort of time, resources, people, and money is necessary to send even a few people to the moon, God help (which one?) us all if we have to escape this planet because we have made it totally unlivable.
Only a very select and very rich few will be able to live on other planets. This is not often discussed but figure it out for yourselves. Most of us will be stuck below decks here on Earth just like the Titanic. And THAT is why it should not be done. How many people could all that money and technology solve here on Earth?
The other reason for focusing our attention here is that only international cooperation will solve Earth's problems. Once that is achieved it will be much easier to conquer space by combining our knowledge and brainpower.
Will this happen? Look at Russia and Ukraine. Look at China. Look at the USA tearing itself apart. It won't be in my lifetime but would you really want to live in some sort of capsule? Would you want to put on a complex space suit just to go "outside?" It won't be for fresh air - that's for sure.
Wise up people. If our leaders - and WE elect them - keep kicking the worst problems down the road for the next generation, VERY soon there won't be a next generation.
Who knows? Maybe deep down there beneath all of those dinosaur skeletons we keep discovering this has all happened before. Perhaps one rocket series should be named Atlantis.
Have we come a long way? Was that and the Challenger and all it cost in money and lives worth it? Some would say yes in the same vane as the War of Independence; the Civil War; and all World Wars were worth it. Lives are always lost in accomplishing greatness and historic change.
So in trying to decide what to write about today I glanced again at the headlines. The next moon shot was front and centre (British spelling folks. Chill out.)
Why "Artemis?" Who is this? In case you don't know (I didn't) she was a Greek goddess (Roman counterpart was Diana). Look her up: ps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artemis; Artemis • Greek Goddess of the Hunt and Moon - Facts and Information (greekgodsandgoddesses.net). Apparently she is a goddess of the hunt , the wilderness, wild animals, nature, vegetation, childbirth, care of children, and chastity. As Diana, she was a virgin Goddess of wildlife (how did they know?) and patroness of hunting; She is twin sister to Apollo and daughter of Zeus, God of Gods!
No wonder religion is still in a mess and believers of one fight believers of another. No wonder women are better multi-taskers than men. Anyway NASA seem to have chosen a great name especially the sister of Apollo element and Goddess of the moon.
Now for the good stuff. Should we even be going there again? Some would say that all of those resources should be utilized here on Earth to help solve today's problems. There is one thing for certain. If this immense effort of time, resources, people, and money is necessary to send even a few people to the moon, God help (which one?) us all if we have to escape this planet because we have made it totally unlivable.
Only a very select and very rich few will be able to live on other planets. This is not often discussed but figure it out for yourselves. Most of us will be stuck below decks here on Earth just like the Titanic. And THAT is why it should not be done. How many people could all that money and technology solve here on Earth?
The other reason for focusing our attention here is that only international cooperation will solve Earth's problems. Once that is achieved it will be much easier to conquer space by combining our knowledge and brainpower.
Will this happen? Look at Russia and Ukraine. Look at China. Look at the USA tearing itself apart. It won't be in my lifetime but would you really want to live in some sort of capsule? Would you want to put on a complex space suit just to go "outside?" It won't be for fresh air - that's for sure.
Wise up people. If our leaders - and WE elect them - keep kicking the worst problems down the road for the next generation, VERY soon there won't be a next generation.
Who knows? Maybe deep down there beneath all of those dinosaur skeletons we keep discovering this has all happened before. Perhaps one rocket series should be named Atlantis.
#thebrewsterblock
No comments:
Post a Comment