unbroken circle

Will the circle be unbroken?
By and by lord, by and by,
There's a better home a-waitin'
In the sky Lord, in the sky. ("Will the Circle Be Unbroken",traditional song)

On July 20, 1967, I was enthralled by the momentous event of a human landing on the Moon. It was science fiction coming to life and no longer was it an imagination of what if, but a reality of what is next. And I remember my father sitting on his favorite Lazy-Boy recliner saying out loud to anyone watching the television in our living room, you would think if we could put a man on the Moon, what potential there is for changing our lives on Earth.

It had never occurred to me, until my father had spoken what would become a common cliche, how correct he was in his thought. All of the energy, the imagination, the effort, the intense desire to achieve a goal. All the leeway, leverage and freedom to accomplish a task and succeed. Some restrictions, but not enough to deter a thought process, some gamesmanship but not enough to permit free thought and freer attempts, some limitation but never enough to stop process and progress.

Imagine what could happen on Earth if we used the same priorities, importance, practices we used to get a man on the Moon.

I am not sure when I then realized that in most matters of quality of life, healthier life styles, better living conditions if we as a nation really wanted to succeed in making living on Earth a positive matter of existence as we did in placing a man on the Moon, it most likely could happen. The placing of a man on the Moon was as simple as considering getting from point A to point B. It was time consuming, confusing, complicated, but the resources of intelligence, dollars, patience and a common goal took precedent and we arrived on the Moon.

I am most confused as to why matters of universal health care, equal quality in the standard of living, clean air, environmentally safe energy, and respect for all human life seems as distant to the people of this planet as the consideration of flying to Jupiter and back. I am not sure how if man can create a space shuttle, life support systems to live on space craft for 6 months, innovative space clothing to keep he cold and heat out, how it is so impossible for us to grow enough food for all humans to consume, provide preventative health care eliminating the possibilities of human diseases, developing clean energy and scores of other man made infections that if created by man certainly could be eliminated by man.

In this insensitive, intense, indulgent political climate in which we live it seems petty is a priority. It seems personal political careers trump the human condition. It seems that blame and bias are more important than results or reason. It seems as simple as it was as man working with man in union with one another to get us on the Moon, it is more and more difficult to move one inch from obstinate to almost to consensus on this Earth!

I believe we are as weak as we want to be as humans but as brave, bold and bountiful if we only wish for more for all of us. The moon was once so far away, so magical, so unreachable and yet we placed a flag on its surface proclaiming the greatness of humans the willingness of humans to work as one.

We sang the songs of childhood,
Hymns of faith that made us strong,
Ones that our mother had taught us,
Hear the angels sing along

Will the circle be unbroken?
By and by lord, by and by,
There's a better home a-waitin'
In the sky Lord, in the sky. ("Will the Circle be Unbroken", traditional song)