past tense

though i have quite enjoyed the series thus far
the title
when we left earth
sure sounds like something that used to happen
not something that still goes on
not something that's still important to us as a nation

sure it's a historical documentary
stuff that is in fact in the past
but what worries me is that in glorifying
our old successes
similar to the glut of world war ii documentaries
[even if it truly is impossible to overstate their greatness]
we pay short shrift to what is happening now

it's great to watch 'band of brothers' reruns
because what's happening now features plenty of the same noble effort
toward a futile cause

and it's great to watch this show or 'from the earth to the moon'
because our efforts now are workaday
of importance that is impossible to communicate now
because it's research
you inherently don't know what it's going to be
that's the point

what's the more galling about it though
is that we can be doing more
and nothing pisses off an engineer more than to have
the ability to do something
to make something happen
and be denied the opportunity

i mean
and i've written about this before
does anyone really think that if we stood up and said
let's friggin' go to mars
we wouldn't be there within ten years
the idea of us spending a trillion dollars to make basically
everyone unhappy in iraq, here, and in the rest of the world
when we could make human civilization proud again
is just plain sad

and i know that senator obama is unlikely to be a friend to the space program
but i once had a certainty that humans would walk on mars in my lifetime
and as i get older
that certainty fades

interestingly
i ran a 5k this morning
and apparently michael collins
the apollo 11 astronaut was also running
i think he probably beat me

but i won't read too much into that