world peace, really!

Back in August, I went to the Newseum in Washington, DC for the first time.

I was really struck by how much of the news is about violence between human beings.  Pearl Harbor and Oklahoma City.  Columbine and Virginia Tech.  Martin Luther King and John F Kennedy.  The sheer horror of September 11^th.

Then there was an image of the Earth from space.  Peaceful.  Beautiful.  Inspiring.

In that image, there were no human beings… no countries… no war.

I was touched, moved, and inspired.  THAT is why we should be in space – because it alters the paradigm of what it means to be a human being.  All of a sudden, all of our disagreements, problems, concerns, and issues disappear.  We’re all on this together.

World peace.  That’s what space exploration offers us as a species.  Not like something that could maybe happen someday, but in reality, like something that is really and truly possible for all of our lives.

Wow.