The other night, the child and I watched a documentary on Cassini -- the unmanned spacecraft, not the designer – a joint project of the US and European space agencies, sent to study Saturn and Titan, one of the planet’s moons. Two years ago, we saw the first pictures coming back, awe-inspiring stuff that could give even the most hard-boiled among us a “gee whiz” moment. A project of nearly 20 years in the planning and execution, requiring international cooperation, applying the best minds to the multitude of complex problems involved in sending a man-made craft billions of miles from earth, Cassini is a triumph of human cooperation, imagination, and inspiration.
To see what Cassini is up to now:
http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.cfm
Meanwhile, back home on planet Earth…
We struggle along, seemingly unable to break out of the hamster wheel of limited thinking. Across nations, there are those who believe we – all the people of this planet – need a new direction, whether it is to bring basic human rights to all people, resolving the growing conflicts between developed nations and developing nations, or ensuring the survival of our planet for future generations. And some people are just plain tired of business as usual, the same rhetoric, the same stalemates, the same poses and postures from the political left and the political right. There are speeches, there are hearings, there are blue ribbon panels and political debate, but in the end we are no further along than when we started. And that isn’t just in America, or in the West, it is a stagnation that seems to have settled over many parts of the globe. In the midst of this, I hear people say, “We need a leader, we need a Kennedy, a Martin Luther King, a Nelson Mandela.” They sit on the sidelines, their frustration turning to apathy, and they wait for The Great Man who will lead us into a new era.
Here’s the kicker…The Great Man is a lie, or at least a greatly exaggerate myth. These men emerged as leaders from movements with very common beginnings. The movements were already there, built upon foundations laid by ordinary people who had the extraordinary courage to say “enough.” These people gathered together, knew what they wanted to accomplish, and with nothing but each other began the work of changing the world, their world, our world.
Think about those nameless, faceless people for a moment and what they had to the courage to envision – civil rights for black Americans, an end to apartheid in South Africa. How many times were they called crazy, told their vision was impossible, told the problem was too big and too complex, or that people would never change? Yet they kept going and from their numbers came the people who were able to carry their vision to the larger world.
The scientists behind Cassini faced countless technological challenges on their way to fulfilling their goal. They had to do things that had never been done, anticipate as many variables as they could, even when dealing with overwhelming unknowns. But their sense of mission and their passion for what they were and are doing compelled them forward, and the results have been a magnificent glimpse into our universe.
Are you looking over your shoulder for a savior? Like Bonnie Tyler, are you “holding out for a hero”? If so, you may as well fold up the tent now. Or you can stop waiting, get off the sidelines, and start charting your own course, embracing your own mission.*
*Need a starting place? Try this: http://www.one.org/
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