WHAT THE ARTEMIS II LUNAR SPACEFLIGHT MISSION SHOULD REMIND US

THE NEED FOR A MANDATORY REQUIREMENT FOR ANY WORLD LEADER

Until a spaceship from another world lands on the front lawn of the White House, it should be mandatory for all heads of state and politicians to take a trip to the International Space Station.

What they would see from the ISS should give them matter for reflection and bring their ego down to size, considering that:

•              Viewed from space, the Earth has no borders, race, or religion.

•              The Earth is not flat, like many people still believe, and not even round but oblong.

•              There is no blue sky. Our planet is an anomaly in space, floating in a dark void at the edge of nothingness.

•              Climate change is real. Deserts are spreading, and forests are shrinking or burning. All is desperately visible from space.

•              Of all that water making up the oceans, only about 1 percent of fresh water is available to humans.

•              The solar wind that causes the beauty of the Aurora Borealis may one day, in a solar flare, kill us all. So, time is precious and should not be wasted on empty words and promises.

•              The glowing lights lighting up the megalopolis of the world are obscene in the energy wasted.

•              Our blue planet is beautiful, unique, a puny speck in space, and the only home we have.

•              Political ambitions are ridiculously puny, self-centered, and so out of touch with the aspirations of most humans on this planet.  

•              Conflict among people and nations is an aberration, and the risk of blowing ourselves up starts with all the lies you tell people to satisfy your miserable political ambitions.

What they won’t see but could infer is that life on our planet is tenuous. If the Earth were an apple, the atmosphere that allows us to breathe would be twenty times thinner than that apple’s skin relative to the Earth’s size. One only has to visit the highest Capital in the world, La Paz^[1], Bolivia, to experience a shortage of oxygen. 

All of this, for when politicians return to earth, they remember that

Every time they open their mouths to breathe and tell a lie at the same time, they are committing a crime against humanity.

[1] La Paz is 12,000 feet above sea level, and the air is about 30 percent thinner