WHAT an amazing planet we live on. It’s quite bizarre though
that as wonderful a world as this is, and we do live in a wonderful, complex
and vast world, human curiosity always pushes us to go further and aim higher.
The events of space exploration science and technology in
the past week are proof of this human drive.
The National Astronautics and Space Administration of the
United States of America, also known as Nasa, have successfully landed the
space exploration rover, Curiosity on the planet Mars.
This machine is not assigned to the red planet to find a
civilisation of little green men living on the surface. In fact Nasa bets are
firmly against the chances of their rover being abducted and sodomised by
Martian nomads anytime during its intergalactic quest.
No. Curiosity was assigned to Mars on a mission to find
evidence that the planet once had conditions similar to earth, ideal for
accommodating life, whether sophisticated creatures or simple micro organisms.
Not life. Just evidence that says it wouldn’t be crazy to think life was once there…
Now, I know what some of you readers might be thinking at
this point. Nasa spent $2.5billion building a remote control go-kart and
sending it to Mars, and they don’t even think they’ll find life there? Doesn’t
sound so revolutionary, does it?
This event made world news, and most people witnessing it in
newspapers, on television and the web weren’t all too sure why.
I didn’t get the point of it all myself, until I did some
research of my own. And the innovations of far-reaching sci-tech actually play
a much bigger role in improving everyday life for human beings than one would
have originally thought.
From canned foods to GPS
systems, some of the “simplest”, and I use that as a term to describe common
innovations we take for granted daily, inventions and innovations came about as
a result of people setting out to accomplish grand and seemingly “over-the-top”
feats.
But people don’t get that immediately. In fact I believe a
lot of people find themselves and their purpose being misunderstood by the rest
of the world, much like our robotic ambassador up on planet Mars.
When a person learns of Nasa and Curiosity and shrugs,
saying “what will it do to solve world hunger”, I can’t help but be reminded of
the plight of passionate people who are told by their parents “I don’t see how
you will make a living off of something like fashion design”.
I believe being overly proverbial is sometimes a dreaded
bore, but I think this metaphor is quite relevant.
Many of us have had to learn the hard way that some people
will not be supportive of what we are passionate about, no matter how talented,
dedicated or diligent we are at it. Many people find themselves living out
their parents’ failed dreams or expectations that society has of them.
It’s such times when one will have to take a page out of Curiosity’s
book and distance themselves from the negativity and criticism that flies in
the face of their aspirations. The rover is on Mars 56million kilometres away.
Other than the orders of a dedicated Nasa team, Curiosity can’t pick up a thing
from here.
I understand why we are often told to reach for the stars.
Not just because that is where we want to be, but also because it’s as far from
negative energy as a person can possibly get.
So, reach for those stars. You could land on the moon, Mars
or even head straight for the sun. At the very least, eventually you will
succeed in getting away from “those people”.
President Nzumbi
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