back in 1969, this image captured the world. it showed everyone around the world (with the ability to see it) for the first time that our planet doesn't have any politicians (or people) that you can see from space. it showed us that we live on a blue world with clouds, dominated by oceans and that we don't have an endless supply of land to do as we like.
while the vietnam war kept claiming thousands of lives, somehow america managed to lift itself up above what was happening on the ground. technology gave people hope for a better future (even if it was because of the soviets) and people actually believed that the united states was a world leader who could accomplish incredible things. when neil armstrong first set foot on another world, he made history not just for america, but for all of humanity, continuing in the footsteps of all the great explorers that had gone before, but perhaps none more so profound a leap as this moment - to leave the planet he came from!
in 2007, we might take another good long, hard look at this photograph and think about where america is today. the world's biggest polluter that consumes one quarter of the world's available energy resources won't even implement binding restrictions on limiting greenhouse gases. for more than a 100 years, this country has built its position of power based upon cheap energy, and now faced with the alarming consequences of climate change, still refuses to act in any meaningful way.
viewed as an arrogant superpower that has implement a disastrous foreign policy, the bush administration's "mission accomplished" destabilizing of a country has resulted in the displacing of 2 million of its citizens, the deaths of tens of thousands of innocent iraqi men, women and children, and has brought untold suffering to countless others who haven't been killed - amputees don't have to die to suffer from roadside bombs...
as america (a country that simply cannot move on from death) prepares to grieve on sept. 11 in memory of those who lost their lives in the world trade center, instead of reading out the names of the dead that died that day, they might perhaps choose to all stay silent and include the iraqis as well. their grief is still happening, every day. poor bastards. they didn't ask for this.
the united states has a strange habit of remembering what it wants to and conveniently 'forgetting' what it doesn't. how many americans even know that the apollo program nearly ended when a flash fire erupted on apollo 1 while it was still on the launch pad during a simulated countdown, killing all three astronauts?
america doesn't even know their names unless they look it up. where's their tribute?
you know, humans have a big problem; we just don't live long enough. if we all lived to be 500 years old, we'd still be alive (and having to deal with the mess) we created in the first place...
improvements in technology is great (if you're one of the fortunate), but last time i checked, there were still people dying of starvation, disease, and war.
back in 1969, the world faced exactly the same problems, and all the money and power available to the richest nations on the planet have not eradicated malaria since, still killing over a million of the planet's poorest people every year...(now, why would god give us mosquitos...?). or how about providing access to clean water perhaps? something that people living in the west don't even have to think about?
in 40 years from now, everyone on the planet will be critically aware of climate change and energy resources, but i doubt the world's poorest will be faring any better given the last 40 years...(time's a ticking, jesus).
history (even if he does want to write it) will NOT be kind to george w. bush
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