Roger Varley has been in the news business almost 40 years with The Canadian Press/Broadcast News, Uxbnridge Times-Journal, Richmond Hill Liberal and Uxbridge Cosmos. Co-winner with two others of CCNA national feature writing award. In Scout movement over 30 years, almost 25 as a leader. Took Uxbridge youths to World Jamboree in Holland. Involved in community theatre for 20 years as actor, director, playwright, stage manager etc. Born in England, came to Canada at 16, lived most of life north and east of Toronto with a five-year period in B.C.
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Where are the dreams of yesteryear?
?Where are the dreams of yesteryear?
If you didn't know that Monday was the 40th anniversary of mankind's first footprint on the moon, you probably don't own a television, listen to radio or read newspapers.
It was almost impossible to get away from stories and documentaries about that historic occasion. It could be considered as a smaller version of the moon mania that swept the planet after Neil Armstrong took that one small step in 1969.
A number of the American astronauts who are part of the small group that actually walked on the surface of the moon were everywhere on television. And for the most part, they bemoaned the fact that the giant leap for mankind seems to have been left suspended in the moon's low gravity.
We all - at least, those of us old enough to have witnessed the event on television - can remember where we were when those blurry black-and-white images lit up the screens in the early morning hours. I was with my young family in a small house in Stouffville. Our youngest son was still a toddler and long abed. We tried to keep awake our oldest son, almost five years old at the time, but he fell asleep just five minutes before Armstrong's boots dinted the lunar dust.
Those of us who witnessed the moon landing can recall the optimism that surged as a result. Space had been conquered: we were no longer bound to this tiny speck of rock floating on the edge of the Milky Way: an exciting future of voyage and discovery lay ahead. Going to the moon had veteran newsmen searching for new superlatives, unashamedly allowing their carefully tailored cynicism to give way to unbounded enthusiasm.
So what happened? Forty years on and we haven't been back. Forty years on and our astronauts have become maintenance crews for aging satellites and space stations. Our space missions in the past 40 years have been so lacking in drama that they have failed to capture the public's imagination. A shuttle launch these days is usually covered in a five-minute segment on the evening news.
And for what? Man's race to the moon cost the lives of only three spacemen: Gus Grissom, Edward White II and Roger Chaffee. How many astronauts have died riding the shuttle on maintenance trips?
There are those who will argue that going to the moon, which is devoid of anything that could be of use to mankind, was a huge waste of money. Indeed, perhaps the only reason the Americans went there was to beat the Russians to it, a sort of cosmic one-upmanship.
But the race to the moon was not without its benefits. Amazing technology resulted, as well as such products as memory foam and Tang. Think of your cell phone. Think of your personal computer. Think of advances in medicine (and don't confuse that with the state of health care delivery).
A number of entrepreneurs, caught up in the moment, dreamed of what was possible here on Earth, thanks to the moon missions, and the techno age was born and has flourished beyond expectations. Advanced communications and technology now allow companies to operate competitively wherever they are in the world. They allow the average Joe to access information from around the globe, thanks to the Internet.
But what of the other dreamers, those whose dreams extended beyond our gradually failing atmosphere? Where did they go, or, more likely, who stomped on their dreams? What ever happened to imagination in the ranks of space scientists?
Sure, you can send robotic expeditions to Mars and other planets. In fact, two robotic rovers on Mars have performed far longer than was expected, and have overcome some serious obstacles in their lonely wanderings. But however sophisticated the machines are, they cannot operate with the physical, emotional and even spiritual capabilities of man. We need humans to explore that planet, and other regions of space, to give us their impressions and feelings, to carry, if you will, our own dreams with them.
Stretching a point quite a bit, the space industry today is rather like having a council that competently manages the day-to-day affairs of the municipality, but is without imagination for the future. While one might not agree with some of the things Mayor Bob Shepherd wants to see happen in the downtown area, at least he has imagination, he has dreams. But dreams and imagination die if they are left in the uncaring hands of the bean counters and naysayers. Big dreams only come true when many people share the dream, and that includes governments, scientists and citizens.
Tell me, am I wrong?
