Thankful for Many Things

Sad About the News

I spent yesterday doing the Thanksgiving Holiday thing here. For most of the world it was just another Thursday; here in the U.S. it was a day to cook a big meal, eat it, and then feel thankful about things. It’s something of a personal holiday for me — I spend time thinking about what I’ve accomplished in my work and career and in my life as a whole. It’s a time of reflection about many things, including the astronomy and space science topics that I get to write about.

I’m not going to get all space-girl gushy here and say that I’m thankful for our orbiting space station or missions to Mars or all the wonderful things we do in astronomy, not just in the U.S. but around the world. Those are wonderful things and they show just how inventive and achievement-oriented people can be when we bend our considerable talent and expertise toward good accomplishments in all realms of science. I’m glad we do them. And, what I AM grateful for is that so many people do them so well!  And, through their efforts we have an incredibly advanced level of technology on this planet that lets us do a lot of things that our forefathers and foremothers would never have dreamed of.

I also spent yesterday tracking the awful events in India, using my computer and Twitter and various online news agencies for the task. I am something of a news junkie, so it’s not uncommon for me to have a few different screens open to various news stories throughout any day I’m at work.

It’s at once striking and saddening that the same technologies that let us watch as distant space robots explore moons or follow along as scientists circling overhead in the ISS do their work, also let us have first-hand front-row seats on some of the worst things that humans can do to each other in the name of ideology. Will this “instant access” give us (as a species on this planet) a chance to bring an end to such violent acts and find ways to make peace on this planet?

Good question.