I've been on the fence about writing anything related to the recent election. Like so many, I'm very glad that Barack Obama will be our next president. But also like a few, I remain cautiously optimistic. What is required to really change so many globally unhealthy directions will take a tremendous amount of work. People (ie., the nation) don't change that quickly. But perhaps "the long road" that Barack spoke of is something we will actually start walking down now. I can only hope the pendulum of our collective short attention span doesn't forget that this will take a long time, longer than one season of American Idol.
A clear, new and bold direction seems both obvious and necessary. FDR helped build highways, bridges and dams. What might be the 21st century equivalent? Perhaps a truly new infrastructure beckons. Wouldn't you like to ride in a space elevator? We need some fundamentally different ways of thinking about technology, energy, people, transportation, exploration, science, and our ability to reach way beyond ourselves. Space is called the final frontier for a reason. Among the most wondrous things President Elect Obama cited that Ann Nixon Cooper had seen in her life were when "a man touched down on the moon" and "a world was connected by our own science and imagination." Please, Mr. President, tap into the latent human energy, inspiration and drive that currently all lay so dormant. Help them give this and future generations even more wondrous and amazing things to see. Help us forge nothing less than our very own mythology. There are millions of jobs to be created (people can more easily afford health care with good jobs), boundless discoveries, innovation for energy, medicine, and countless ways to improve every single glorious facet of our human existence.
Here is one example of what I feel is an excellent start in the right direction.
A clear, new and bold direction seems both obvious and necessary. FDR helped build highways, bridges and dams. What might be the 21st century equivalent? Perhaps a truly new infrastructure beckons. Wouldn't you like to ride in a space elevator? We need some fundamentally different ways of thinking about technology, energy, people, transportation, exploration, science, and our ability to reach way beyond ourselves. Space is called the final frontier for a reason. Among the most wondrous things President Elect Obama cited that Ann Nixon Cooper had seen in her life were when "a man touched down on the moon" and "a world was connected by our own science and imagination." Please, Mr. President, tap into the latent human energy, inspiration and drive that currently all lay so dormant. Help them give this and future generations even more wondrous and amazing things to see. Help us forge nothing less than our very own mythology. There are millions of jobs to be created (people can more easily afford health care with good jobs), boundless discoveries, innovation for energy, medicine, and countless ways to improve every single glorious facet of our human existence.
Here is one example of what I feel is an excellent start in the right direction.
It's one of the most poignant examples of "thinking outside the box" I've heard about in a while. Aside from the video link above, which I think is amazing, they have a website. The Washington Post even picked up an editorial on the subject recently.
One of the personal reigns I've taken up in the hope that "yes we can" is precisely this, the rhetoric (in the best sense of the term) needed to help people look up to the skies and see more, to get in touch with the deep knowledge that we are a part of that shimmering twinkling tapestry. It is one of our great destinies to reach out to it and explore. As our ancestors stepped out of the ocean and walked on land so must we now resume our steps up to the Cosmos. Quite possibly, if we play our cards right, it might even help us in the process.
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