It was July 16th, 1969. The summer before my senior year in high school. I had been enthralled with space, science fiction and John F. Kennedy’s audacious commitment to putting people on the moon before the end of that decade. I thought I might be able to join NASA and become an astronaut.
I had gotten up before sunrise to experience the countdown and to see the 6:32 a.m. launch. When the rocket lifted from the launch pad, my heart was full of amazement, pride in our country and high expectations for my own future in space. I was 16 years old.
At that very moment, there were a half million American soldiers in Vietnam, engaged in an expanding war against the North Vietnamese communists who were supported by China. I would be required to register for the draft in less than two years. The U.S. had entered the war in order to constrain the expansion of communism. The Soviet Union had committed to spreading communism in Europe, and China was intent upon doing the same in Asia. At that time, communism’s goal was to be the governmental structure of the world. Premier Nikita Khrushchev of the Soviet Union had loudly exclaimed to the U.S., “We will bury you!”
On July 20th, 1969, Americans stood on the surface of the moon, and then safely returned. The U.S. had withdrawn most troops from Vietnam by 1973, after the Paris Peace Accords. South Vietnam was unable to prevent the fall of Saigon on April 30, 1975. I was 22 years old. While I had a very low selection number, my college deferment continued until the draft ended.
Here I am sitting at my desk at home in 2026, 58 years later. Today, Artemis II lifted off from its launch pad at the same space complex that served the astronauts in 1969. I watched it and I dearly hope they are safe on their journey. I am now 73. I did not become an astronaut. My journey has been no less challenging, unpredictable and worthwhile, however. But my heart still feels bigger from having seen my fellow citizens of the world leap off the planet into the unknown yet again.
The crew capsule will start its elliptical path around Earth, finally letting go of this world’s gravity in a few days to grab a hand hold of the Moon’s. The four astronauts will be hurtling through the void in a craft they have named “Integrity”. A lofty concept, sorely needed today. These incredibly brave human beings are the embodiment of that quality. And so is NASA.
Congruent with the exciting and inspiring human actions today in Florida, the U.S. is currently deep into another war, this time with Iran. Unlike the Vietnam War, we entered into this deadly conflict quickly, without Congressional involvement (other than to not stop it). Unlike the Vietnam War, this war has a global impact economically, and the violence has spread across the Middle East. The goal in Vietnam was to preserve South Vietnam as a democracy aligned with the West. The goal in Iran has not been consistently explained. But what is similar is that the U.S. is engaging in deadly force upon another country, borrowing more money from its citizens and the world to do so.
At this point in my life, having experienced repetitions of larger cycles of human behavior, and having studied the cycles that have repeated for thousands of years, I am convinced that our periods of peace and prosperity are squandered through complacency and self-indulgence, until the debts come due and social upheaval forces a very painful equalization. Then we relearn by their absence what freedom, peace and prosperity really require of us to preserve them.
Such epochal transitions are not always bloody and cruel, but many have been. We have the ability to choose a non-violent reset. A democratic republic has historically been the form of governance that has been able to reset peacefully, but it’s not a guarantee. Can we pull back from war? Can we rediscover the qualities of character we used to praise and strive to emulate? Can we elevate each other, of all walks of life, like Artemis II is elevating four courageous astronauts on their way to the moon, in a ship called Integrity?