Tuesday was a landmark day as both the 50th anniversary of the first manned space flight and the 150th anniversary of the beginning of the Civil War.
We were debating writing about either one of these monumental events, when we began to ask ourselves which one was more important to us.
You could argue that sending a man into space, a realm we had only begun to understand, was a turning point in the entirety of human history.
To be so far removed from this blue marble we call home is an experience few people have ever had or will get — especially with our space program in its current condition. The scientific and technological breakthroughs that arose from the Space Race have been integrated into our society, but they also remain a testament to an era of people looking up and dreaming when others, as has always been the case, looked around and fretted.
It’s not like we don’t have our share of terrestrial problems down on Earth. It’s not only scientific and technological problems that confront us, but also those of religion and inequality with answers so elusive and ever-evolving that we can’t hope to ever find them. Such problems led to the firing on Fort Sumter and the cascade of war that ensued.
Even as we tried to decide on which day to discuss, we had to choose between lofty idealism and bleak realism, and we saw that history has been shaped by both.
