It was refreshing to read this earlier this week. I had just been talking about this same problem with my father. [He works for LockheedMartin, as does my mother and father-in-law. As did his [my father-in-law’s] father and his father-in-law….hey! What happened to me!? Here I am working at Novell! Actually, I had been hired by Lockheed contingent on them winning a contract for the DIMHRS project…which they didn’t :(]

My father indicated that Lockheed has felt the same way for sometime now. The space shuttle, for all its accomplishments, has not progressed space exploration at the pace it should have. It is after all, as the article points out, just a big truck! I know that I feel cheated by this. I am a huge fan of Isaac Asimov, Orson Scott Card and others who filled my imagination with travel to distant worlds and living and interacting with AI (robots and other machines) and “people” from other worlds. None of which has happened. I had mentioned this earlier, but I think that it really says something that my son, Taylor, would rather work at mission control, than go into space.

I think that when we first started to travel into space and then to the moon, it inspired kids (and adults) into studying and creating things that really helped propel us as a nation into being and staying a leader in technology and creating things we now enjoy. That is clearly being eroding in this day and age. I want to be inspired again by things that we do. I don’t find that much is happening to help us inspire young people to reach for the stars (or to the depths of the ocean). Instead we are locked into this idiotic hero worship of sports and movie stars….come on! Some of them may be bright, engaging, fascinating people, but get real! They are entertainers and provide little to no substance to our lives. I am not inspired by how they live their lives… I could not careless who ben is marrying or if jen still loves brad. They are all overpaid any way. I want my kids to be inspired by something awesome, that pushes them to achieve their dreams and pushes them from being locked on this planet to being able to enjoy the greatness of what surrounds them, not just on this world but on others.

I guess their need for inspiration needs to start with me….

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