We Made It To Mars

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February 19, 2021

Well they did it!  NASA put Perseverance on the planet Mars. Its mission is to locate the potential of there once being life.  Potential?  The child in me giggles.  It knew at seven years old that Martians exist.  Part of the modern day conspiracy theory is that Covid 19 is actually an alien that’s invaded our way of living.  Who says creatures from outer space have to look like us or have a huge bubble head?  What if we came from Mars?  It was the yearly family outing to Saturn that drove us to earth.  Someone in the backseat had to use the bathroom so we took a pit stop at this place called earth.  We liked it and decided to stay.  I mean, what if we’re the invader and we’re just trying to make it back?  It took Perseverance seven months to make it to Mars.  Can you imagine making that journey?  No Wi-Fi!  No Netflix or Hulu!  No quick trip to McDonalds or placing a phone call to someone to pick up Panera Bread.  How do we mentally prepare for such a journey?  A couple of weeks ago I was blessed with the opportunity to share a conversation with Astronaut Abby.  She’s on a huge mission to be one of the first to physically walk on Mars.  I wanted to shout out, “Really?  Cuz you know how big business America is running the ship these days.  A.I.’s and robots.”  On a more serious note I do wonder about the day I watched man take his first step on the moon.  If I had been a daily writer at seven, what would’ve I written?  Without words on a page I know how it inspired me.  I flipped the dog house over and turned it into an Apollo mission.  Not once but several times!  Are today’s kids inspired?  We relied on the Weekly Reader to keep us engaged.  Today’s generation has Google.  But how many little ones know how to spell Perseverance?  They should’ve called the billion dollar machine Fred or Kevin.  I live for the day to walk into a class and see someone holding their pencil or pen in the air and making a sound that resembles a rocket shooting through space.  That being said I wonder if NASA is reaching into the future or just an old guy like me doing things because we’re old and old people want fast cars and Rock star posters framed on the wall.  Wait.  Remove the frame.  Posters need clear tape or staples.  That’s how you relive the childhood.  Think that’s bad?  My wife looked at me and really asked, “That’s what Mars looks like?  I think it’s a Hollywood set and it’s totally fake.  To get our minds off politics and Covid 19.”  I actually leaned into that thought and believed it for a moment.  Gullible never gets old.