We spent yesterday at the Kennedy Space Center, primarily to
see a rocket launch, something we had not witnessed in person previously and it
certainly lived up to our expectations.
It was a beautiful day and the several thousand people gathered on the
shoreline were all waiting patiently for the scheduled 1:45 PM launch. It went off as scheduled to the thrill
of everyone, many from other countries as we talked with people from Germany,
Switzerland and France all nearby.
Seeing and feeling a launch in person is quite different
from all the films viewed over the years and while this Atlas rocket was not as
big as the Saturn V or some of the others that carried people on the shuttle
into orbit, it was big enough to get an impression of the past 50 years of the
space program. This experience, along with all the films and documented history
at the Center added a dimension to our understanding and appreciation of the
international space station’s operation.
As we watched the Russian and American space engineers work
closely together and celebrate their success, together with people from 16
other countries who had been involved, the view from space of earth with no
boundaries between countries drove home the silliness of our political
folly. As the United States
increases sanctions against Russia and feels justified in doing so, it just
seems so senseless that we can’t find more effective ways to cooperate on the
earth.
I was taken back to my definition of a paradox, a word which
is most often defined as an apparent contradiction, and it is all of that and
more. Paradox, translated
literally, means that which is contrary to public opinion. Will the public
every have a sufficient and strong enough opinion to tell the leaders to stop
trying to solve problems through the exercise of power? Will we ever try instead, like the
space program, to share a common vision, a common purpose and a common goal?
We have proof that we can work together for the common
good. Why not use that hard
evidence and translate it to earthbound problems? Perhaps it’s too obvious or that we continue not to learn
from the mistakes of the past or that there aren’t enough people who care to
weigh in and make the difference.
Maybe it’s just a case of head in the sand one more time.