Space, Our Moral Duty, Part II
...Now many are probably thinking
we don’t not have the tech for that!
Altering worlds, bending gravity,
we can’t do it now, that’s a fact.
Not to mention radiation,
we need better shielding, it’s true,
but you don’t advance by waiting
until it is all safe to do.
Did those ancient Indians wait
for heated trucks on the land bridge?
No, they walked a frozen tundra,
and aren’t we so glad that they did?
Did the Polynesians wait until
GPS came to guide their way?
No, they had just the stars above
and still crossed the Pacific’s waves.
Did Columbus wait for outboards
before sailing off for the west?
No, they went half-blind and unsure
and did it with medieval tech!
Our first low-orbit fumblings,
the stage we see ourselves in now,
are what teach us what we will need
to survive and settle new ground.
These first steps seem awkward, I know,
but such things still need to be done,
if we do not learn how to walk
we’ll never be able to run.
So when we see these billionaires
trying to make spaceflight more cheap,
we should just get out of the way,
or help them achieve what they seek.
What matter if they make money
if they do so by opening
the stars up to our expansion,
we {all| will be benefitting.
Did we hate the wagon-makers
who got rich of the pioneers?
It is not them who made the west,
and I think it’s much the same here.
The tools they build to conquer space
will be used by the bold and the brave,
and much faster than NASA could,
they’re forging an expansive age,
a frontier that will never end,
countess worlds just waiting for life,
to bring it is moral duty,
worthy of the effort and strife.
Copyright © David Welch | Year Posted 2024
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