e-Mail from the Moon

When I was growing up, I wanted so badly to become an astronaut and go to space. I kind of outgrew that idea. There is still however some part of me, hidden in the background that believes that there is more to this universe/galaxy than we think (not meaning in the spiritual sense or anything) and definitely more than we know now.

I have this idea that God really must have some other planet prepared for us when we are done ruining and also overpopulating this one we live on now. And here, I am not in any way advocating irresponsible environmental and earth threatening activities. However, I find it very unlikely that the earth is the only hospitable planet. There is that statistician in me that says that one little spot cannot just suddenly have ideal conditions and nowhere else. I am imagining the earth being at the peak of some bell curve like situation. Which means that admittedly the extremes exist at the ends. We all know mercury and Pluto (Oh poor Pluto, no longer considered a planet) exist. So there must be some other close to ideals close to the earth. You think?

So why am I thinking about these issues? One of my friends just applied for a job to be an astronaut for a North American country’s space agency. He is still in the very early stages of the application process, and there is a 1 in 2500 chance of his getting the job. But still, it is really easy get into the excitement of the moment, to hope that he could possibly get the job and maybe someday get to visit the moon. I made him promise to send me an e-mail from the moon, someday, if he gets to go.

So, here’s to all of us keeping our fingers (and toes) crossed for my friend getting the job so he can go to the moon, so that I can get an email from the moon. According to his roommate, he would probably be the first homicide in space. As she puts it, “can you imagine spending months in an enclosed space with “J”?” And so let’s also try to keep the haters in check as well.