Looking to the future

Morgan Rooney
MSMU Class of 2020

(7/2019) I would be surprised if every child who was able did not lay outside at night staring into the sky at some point. It is beautiful to lay down in the grass and stare in awe at all the stars and galaxies that are visible to the human eye. I remember when I was a young kid and my dad bought me my very first telescope. I was overjoyed and we spent many hours that night outside looking up at the stars and the moon. I even remember commenting on the surface of the moon, thinking that it looked like the Death Star that I had recently seen in Star Wars just a few days prior. The moon seemed so far. I can imagine for a child of an earlier generation, going to the moon was only something to daydream about, or maybe even write a fiction story about. For newer generations, this dream feels so much more realistic.

On July 20, 1969, man reached a milestone that one could only dream of prior. Millions of Americans remember hearing the words that the Eagle had landed. America had truly done it. America landed on the moon. Not only did we win the race to space against the USSR, but all of the country watched in awe as Neil Armstrong took mankind’s very first steps on the moon, closely followed by Buzz Aldrin just minutes later.

"That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for humanity." The first words said by Armstrong upon stepping foot on the moon say it all. It was a great victory for Americans.

When asked to write about the moon landing for the 50-year anniversary of one of the greatest events in history, I was surprised it had been so long since then. I was told about the moon landing as a child, and I didn’t imagine it so far away, as it occurred after the birth of both of my parents. However, my parents had been far too young at the time to remember the event. I knew exactly who to contact about my further questions: my grandmother. She was just another hardworking American with four children at the time, watching the events unfold like everybody else. I decided to get into contact with my grandmother to hear about her thoughts when the moon landing occurred.

"It was amazing! I was spellbound!" She told me. "I still remember his words when he stepped on the surface of the moon." She told me Armstrong’s quote from her memory, word by word. My grandmother explained to me that she couldn’t even imagine what it could have been like before it happened. It didn’t even seem like it was possible.

After watching more about the moon landing, including a documentary about Apollo 11, and watching the original broadcast with Walter Concrite, I could see the reaction of the newscasters which was not much different from what my grandmother described. They looked excited, overjoyed, and most of all, filled with anticipation. I’m sure that giddiness that the men expressed was not exclusive to them but spread throughout the entire nation. During this time, the future was going to be in space, which was now in our grasp.

Now, however, there definitely seems to have been a shift. When I think about the future, I honestly don’t know what to think. Will it be a world taken over by AI (even more than it already has been)? Will the world be turned into a wasteland that we will no longer be able to thrive in? Will our space exploration continue to the point that we can live elsewhere like in my favorite sci-fi films?

I know it isn’t always fair to compare different parts of a timeline because each one has its advantages and disadvantages. I know that I am very privileged because of where I was born and the time I was born but it’s not all that easy either. Being in "today" also has its drawbacks.

We live in a time where we can have all the information in the world at our fingertips in a matter of seconds. I don’t need to remember things like I did ten years ago. It’s all in a device I keep in my pocket where I have immediate access to my own AI assistant. When I take a step and look at the world I’m living in, I realize that it truly is being taken over by this information that can be used however you see fit.

This has its drawbacks too, as certain people become a walking zombie that cannot spend a moment away from their phone. I like to think that I am not like this but I know I definitely plead guilty in certain situations. It seemed like we live in a different world now based on what I have been told by the older generations. Some things have improved, others have changed for the worse. It wouldn’t be fair to choose one side over the other when there are so many things to consider.

We have all of this information at the push of a button, but at this time, it is obvious that we are not pursuing this travel to expand outside our own world. We aren’t currently prepared to find our way back to the moon or elsewhere. Our hearts and minds are not looking ahead to a future in outer space, nor is it the priority in this country. The dream that we all had at one time seems to be dwindling as we get older. Maybe I try to think with more realistic goals in mind, but often I forget the importance of aiming high. Aiming beyond our very own atmosphere and into space. I believe we still have potential in space, even if it doesn’t seem like we are headed in that direction. The moon landing was an important win for our country and it certainly wasn’t our last.

Read other articles by Morgan Rooney