I think we face three major issues in the world today:
1. Poverty
2. Climate change
3. A crisis of faith
All three of these are complicated, big, difficult to solve and will be with us for as long as we live. And they are interrelated. They are also solvable. They are at least solvable enough for us as individuals to actually make a difference to the lives of other individuals. But the start of this posting is not about any of these 3.
This posting is about a guy with the name of Dr Bill Stone. I saw a TED talk today by him. Bill Stone is well known for exploration under the earth. Going where no man has ever gone before, into under-earth caves, tunnels and most amazingly water. Bill Stone is Shackleton at heart. If he realises his dreams, the name Stone will be as famous as Shackleton.
In his awesome and inspiring TED talk, he first explained what he has done in the bowels of the earth, and the equipment that he has invented for it. Bill is really excited about expensive exploration equipment. What Bill wants to do is lead a mission to the moon. What makes this mission so fascinating is that he does not want to take enough fuel to get back. Taking enough fuel to get back, and making sure you have everything you need to get back when things go wrong, is what makes space exploration so (much more...) expensive. So how do you get to the moon on the cheap? And cheap is below $1 trillion... You don't take from the earth enough fuel to get back.
So how is he planning to get back? On the moon, there is a crater called - wait for this... Shackleton Crater. Stone plan to makes his way over to the Shackleton Crater and mine for fuel on the moon. The fuel that he needs to get back to earth! Talk about crossing that bridge when you get to it!
So why is this so amazing? Well it is amazing in the sense of Shackleton, Amundson and Scott. It is amazing in the sense of Lewis and Clark. But it is also amazing in the sense that it may not cost $1 trillion, but it will cost an absolute fortune. It will most likely be in the billions of dollars. So what makes more sense? Does Dr Stone and his merry men get on a rocket and blast off on their lunar adventure (it will make for awesome television!), burning through billions of dollars in the process, or should we not rather spend that money on treating AIDS or malaria in Africa? It is a question of such epic proportions that tug at the heart of the human race in such a fundamental way that it makes my eyes water.
Is Dr Bill Stone an embodiment of the human spirit that will inspire a whole planet of humanity and make us all dream about how great we are as a species? Or is he insensitive to the plight of billions of people that struggle to make ends meet, struggle to survive, struggle with illness, injustice and extreme poverty? Or is that an unfair question to ask?
Clearly this is not about Dr Bill Stone, but rather about us. How do we keep doing what we are doing with such absolute disregard for the plight of the poor (or the planet, for that matter)? Do we dream about what we can do as individuals? Our great achievements that we so love to strive for? The triumph of the human spirit? Or what exactly does the triumph of the human spirit mean? Does it count when people are facing injustice?
How do we frame this question?
I don't know.
