SpeakUP: It Is Now Or Never

Photo Credit:Reuters.com

I thought that my first post of my new "Up Up And Away" Manifesto of last week would be something of an up beat, friendly nature. You know, sassy sarcasm and a bit of fun loving sap,  but I find that today, I am sad. And a little scared. And just a tiny bit pissed off.

As the mother of a boy who has had little but a future in aerospace in the works for 17 years, it breaks my heart to see the era of America's greatness in space exploration coming to an end for now. Not because I am doleful for this son and his future career (or lack of one), but because of what it means for America. The end of this era of greatness for the U.S. seems to me a metaphor for what my lie ahead. I hope it is not so, but it seems a harbinger for the decline of this great country into mediocrity.

This is not about partisanship. This is about saving this nation. OUR nation. It will take each of us, regardless of party politics and media vitriol, to stand up individually and collectively and say that mediocrity is not an option. If we as a people and as a nation are to be great again, we must desire greatness and then fight to achieve greatness. This will not be done by relying on other nations to transport our astronauts to the ISS, and it will not be done by relying on the government to create jobs or wealth or anything else. It will take Americans. Americans who care about America. Who want it to be great. Who themselves create wealth and prosperity. We will have to do it by going back. Back to basics. Back to the family. Back to God. Back to the founding principles prescribed in The Constitution. WE THE PEOPLE IN ORDER TO FORM A MORE PERFECT UNION. Perfect? No. More perfect? Hell Yes.

I am afraid that if we do not, and soon, that this is the beginning of the end. We will witness the decline of this nation as we know it. I for one do not want to see that happen. It is time to speak up.

      "There is no strife, no prejudice, no national conflict in outer space as yet. Its hazards are hostile to us all. Its conquest deserves the best of all mankind, and its opportunity for peaceful cooperation may never come again. But why, some say, the moon? Why choose this as our goal? And they may well ask why climb the highest mountain? Why, 35 years ago, fly the Atlantic?

      We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too.

      It is for these reasons that I regard the decision last year to shift our efforts in space from low to high gear as among the most important decisions that will be made during my incumbency in the office of the Presidency." 

--John F. Kennedy 1962

The space race was not a matter of showboating or earning bragging rights. It was about achieving greatness and about freedom. A few weeks after this very famous speech in Houston, the president addressed a joint session of congress and, in a speech directed at defense and foreign policy, told congress and all Americans that "If we are to win the battle that is now going on around the world between freedom and tyranny, the dramatic achievements in space which occurred in recent weeks should have made clear to us all, the impact of this adventure on the minds of men everywhere, who are attempting to make a determination of which road they should take... Now it is time to take longer strides–time for a great new American enterprise–time for this nation to take a clearly leading role in space achievement, which in many ways may hold the key to our future on earth." 


It is time folks. Time to speak up. It is now or never.


Quote of the Day: "Patriotism is easy to understand in America; it means looking out for yourself by looking out for your country."-- Calvin Coolidge