Bad timing

Saturday night (July 21), Joanne & I watched a couple of episodes of "From the Earth to the Moon", an HBO miniseries from 1998 about the Apollo missions. One of the episodes was "Mare Tranquilitatis", which was the lunar landing... on July 20, 1969. So close!

We picked up the set earlier this year at Costco--it was cheap (under $25), and I heard it was good. And it is. The story is engaging, production detail is outstanding, the sense of wonder/fear at being in space is palpable. Sometimes the rhythm and pacing is a little odd, though, because the series is often plot driven (the Apollo mission), rather than character driven (the cast is huge and rapidly changing that you only get into a character or three per episode, and those change each episode. It's not like Band of Brothers, which has a much more stable crew of characters).

But this isn't a DVD review.

The credits open with JFK's speech announcing the goal: "We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard."

And it strikes me what do we, as a country, strive to do that is noble and with purpose? That is positive and based on hope, rather than a reduction of a negative?

I guess that narrows possibilities quite a bit--government, even when seen as an agent of change, focuses on raising to a median standard (welfare, healthcare) or limiting activity (environment). Areas of discovery are limited to science, and there's only so many activities that can capture the public's interest. The Arizona Republic hits on this to some degree in Sunday's lead editorial, stating "America needs another Sputnik moment."

Of course it's easy to look back on the Apollo missions with pride because it was successful. But that wasn't ordained. There was opposition to the cost or need or such exploration, and the sense of accomplishment only did so much--the 70's were wonderful after all.

Joanne asked where I was going with this, as the easy comparison is Iraq, which isn't really were i wanted to go, but there are parallels. And differences.

Perhaps I'm thinking too big picture. Maybe the real lesson is at a more individual level, about setting goals (or dreams), and creating an incremental plan of action to achieve that.

OK, I'm babbling now.