We Just Decided to Go
Earlier today, Wil Wheaton posted this pic on twitter:
I'd never heard it before, but now I'm totally in love with it.
I think so many people take for granted that we went to the moon, especially my generation and the ones following. I was born 15 years after we landed on the moon, and 8 years after Star Wars came out. So by that time, adventures in space already felt somewhat commonplace.
With all the CGI and special effects, all the fake outerspace, we've forgotten that we've really been there. We didn't just make it up. We were there.
People stared up at the stars for centuries, making up stories, monitoring time, imagining all the grand adventures that go on up there. And we went there, after centuries of mankind dreaming about it.
The impact of that had been lost on me until today. I saw this really awesome movie about the Hubble telescope in the omnitheater a few months back, but in a way, these are things I've been seeing my whole life, either in text books or in summer blockbusters.
I forgot how totally fricking insane is that we traveled thousands of miles in outer space, in an atmosphere we can't even breathe, to a giant lifeless rock floating in the sky.
Not only does it make everything I've ever done seem really inconsequential, it reminds me that everything is possible. We hold the power to shape our lives, our dreams, our worlds to be whatever we want them to be - no matter how far fetched they may seem.
The point is we went to the moon because we decided to go there. We worked hard to make it a reality. If we can do that, then what's stop us from doing anything else? The biggest obstacle between a man and his dream is himself.
I don't know. I just feel really re-energized and inspired by that. The simplicity and almost obviousness of Jim Lovell's quote. "We just decided to go." So I thought I'd shared it with you.
I'd never heard it before, but now I'm totally in love with it.
I think so many people take for granted that we went to the moon, especially my generation and the ones following. I was born 15 years after we landed on the moon, and 8 years after Star Wars came out. So by that time, adventures in space already felt somewhat commonplace.
With all the CGI and special effects, all the fake outerspace, we've forgotten that we've really been there. We didn't just make it up. We were there.
People stared up at the stars for centuries, making up stories, monitoring time, imagining all the grand adventures that go on up there. And we went there, after centuries of mankind dreaming about it.
The impact of that had been lost on me until today. I saw this really awesome movie about the Hubble telescope in the omnitheater a few months back, but in a way, these are things I've been seeing my whole life, either in text books or in summer blockbusters.
I forgot how totally fricking insane is that we traveled thousands of miles in outer space, in an atmosphere we can't even breathe, to a giant lifeless rock floating in the sky.
Not only does it make everything I've ever done seem really inconsequential, it reminds me that everything is possible. We hold the power to shape our lives, our dreams, our worlds to be whatever we want them to be - no matter how far fetched they may seem.
The point is we went to the moon because we decided to go there. We worked hard to make it a reality. If we can do that, then what's stop us from doing anything else? The biggest obstacle between a man and his dream is himself.
I don't know. I just feel really re-energized and inspired by that. The simplicity and almost obviousness of Jim Lovell's quote. "We just decided to go." So I thought I'd shared it with you.
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