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Editorial: A mission of hope
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More from OpinionPeople react in stunned horror to pictures of destruction and reports of death tolls from natural disasters and continued wars across the globe. Such events seem to overwhelm the human spirit.
And then, a seemingly small event occurs that most people might consider insignificant, yet, one that contains seeds of hope for the future.
The triumphant arrival of the Phoenix Mars Lander on Sunday was just such an event. It showed what can be accomplished when humans put aside their differences and work toward a common goal. It proved the spirit of exploration and the quest for knowledge remain strongly embedded traits in the human psyche.
And, it reminded all that it is not enough to turn eyes inward and see only what concerns us. Disasters will come and go. The economy will rise and fall. Wars will start and end. But the indomitable spirit that has, for millenniums, moved humanity forward continues unabated.
We can look into the future, see where our destination should be and plot the trajectory with as much precision as the scientists and engineers who sent a 772-pound payload on a 10-month, 422 million-mile journey through space to a nearly pinpoint landing in Mars' polar region.
Many consider people passengers on this spaceship Earth, but they also are stewards and guardians who can, like the Phoenix Mars Lander, bring their goals in for a pinpoint landing.
Posted by lthrnek on May 28, 2008 at 8:38 p.m. (Suggest removal)
No doubt a magnificent accomplishment but now I wish we could harness some of that talent to solve some of the less important issues like the immigration problems, energy crisis, and getting rid of those nuts who want to fly airplanes into our buildings.
Posted by Tom_Johnston on May 28, 2008 at 10:36 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Gentlemen...I would echo your sentiments..but the landing of a machine on Mars is about hard science, mathematics, and other easily defineable problems.
Those other issues are more difficult..too many probabilities, too many variables.
In short....the human condition. It's what makes them hard to solve.
Issues like immigration, energy, oh heck, gay marriage and all the rest of the more human issues that we face will require some science...and a lot of human compromise and accommodation..acknowledgment and acceptance of differences...much more difficult to achieve that merely landing a machine on another planet.
No disrespect to those at the JPL or NASA, but solving some of our social problems...wow, wish we could make it look as easy.
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