When I was a kid, I wanted to be an astronaut -- but was told that I'd never be a pilot because back then, astronauts were Navy pilots first, and I'd never be a pilot because I had bad eyesight. Besides, as a girl, I'd have "other things" to worry about.
Later, in July, 1969, I camped with some friends on a mesa in New Mexico that overlooked a small site of Anasazi ruins. I remember one night in particular: I watched the seductive moon glowing against the night sky while a crackling voice over the radio talked about "a giant step for mankind ... " I remember thinking "Well, I'm earthbound, but maybe my kids can colonize Mars."
We never made it back to the moon. Back then, we had to fund a war in Vietnam, and then there were new social programs to pay for. And, of course, government bureaucracy began to grow like kudzu around NASA.
Our kids are now looking at a stark new war, sobering in its implications. Federal bureaucrats also remain the same, only more numerous, with even more new and innovative ways of entrenching themselves around formerly effective projects.
And yet -- there is still the dream and there are still people with their sleeves rolled up, folks who have an idea, and the skills to make it work. Who knows? Maybe my grandkids will work on the space platform at the end of a beanstalk.
With luck and pluck they will, Caren. Thanks for the review - by writing and blogging you're helping to enable that vision.
