Bill Speer

No matter your age I believe one of the secrets to a happy life is to keep learning.

They say “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks” but I beg to differ. Take for instance the recent space flight to the dark side of the moon and back.

Just when I had pretty much shut down from politics and the negativity around every corner at the local, state and national levels, along comes a space launch and four amicable astronauts who captured the imagination and love of the world.

For 10 wonderful days the world seemed to stand still and all eyes were glued upward to the stars. It re-ignited a peace within me I hadn’t felt in quite some time.

Indeed, it was as if time stood still.

Unfortunately, that really wasn’t the case.

Of course, the war in Iran still raged.

Of course, Democrats still blamed Republicans, and Republicans still blamed Democrats.

Of course, a cloud of hot air still encircled the Capitol, while inside one still searched, but still couldn’t find a lick of common sense.

All those seemed to fade a bit on the front page of newspapers across the United States for 10 days as the crew of Artemis II was the story everyone wanted to read more about. It reminded me of the days of Mercury and John Glenn, or Apollo and Neil Armstrong.

At barber shops and coffee klatches across the region those gathered gushed about the launch, the mission and the incredible photographs that were being taken and sent back to earth.

With pride people talked about the crew of three men and one woman, and how the Artemis II set a new travel record for maximum distance from Earth.

And with compassion, and empathy, people shed tears when the crew identified a new crater on the moon’s surface and got permission from NASA officials to name it “Carroll” to honor Carroll Taylor Wiseman, the late wife of Mission Commander Reid Wiseman.

It was one of those memorable moments as crew member Jeremy Hansen, trying to keep his emotions in check, called the crater a “bright spot on the moon.” The crew embraced, shed a tear and reminded us that love conquers all.

In fact, faith and family were a re-occurring theme from space during that flight, as many times crew members, especially Victor Glover, shared faith-based reflections from space. At the end of one such reflection, he said, “Whether listeners believe in God or not, this is

an opportunity for us to remember where we are, who we are, and that … we got to get through this together.”

Which, in my perspective, was one unintentional result of the mission. The trip to the moon gave us new hope, new pride and new perspective about what is going on in the world around us.

It had been 54 years since the U.S. had last sent a manned space craft to the moon.

I hope it won’t take another 54 years to get there again.

I write that because like Glover said, we all need to remember “where we are, who we are, and that … we got to get through this together.”

United we stand. Divided we fall.