A View from Space

So I have been watching the astronauts working on the ISS and really marvel at what we have accomplished as a people. We can go into space (admittedly low earth orbit), live there for extended periods, work in the vacuum of space, and come back to earth. Yet, almost 40 years after first landing and walking on the moon, our progress in establishing human outposts in space is very lacking. Daily we waste so many precious resources that could and should go to the betterment of the human race. Too many people are more concerned about who the next "American Idol" will be than what is currently going on over their heads. Others are more worried how to insure their particular brand of religion has the ultimate say in politics. Too many people are being murdered each day all in the name of some god. If only one tenth of this negative energy could be funneled into the betterment of humankind, just think of the accomplishments that could be made. Unfortunately, unless people pull their heads out of their collective rectal orifices, we are headed into another dark age. America has been a world leader in taking technology forward. And what we have done the best has been to take discoveries, technologies, techniques, and different practices and meld those into something new and great that we could all benefit from. Now we are becoming adrift through apathy and ignorance. Laws, regulations and educational doctrine are being based on beliefs and not hard scientific data. And this is not only aimed at the "right-wing religious conservatives", but also the "left-wing extremists" who actual try to rewrite history to make their views seem mainstream. If we could just put this petty bickering (and it really is petty in the overall scheme of things), just think how much we could accomplish in the next 40 years.

In the meantime, take a few minutes and enjoy watching the astronauts float in the great cosmos above. Then turn off that stupid TV and go do something REALLY worthwhile.