Artemis

Gratitude 3/8/2026

I am grateful for the gift of a new day.
My heart is filled with gratitude for the many blessings I have.
I will appreciate the small joys and express my thanks in all circumstances.
Let my attitude of gratitude bring joy to others.

I am incredibly grateful for the wonderful news and pictures from Artemis II, including the eclipse of Earth from the moon.

The 21st century has been incredibly stressful as a member of the human race. We have had stressful times in the past throughout the world, but after WWII many of us convinced ourselves that international conflicts that engaged many nations at war were a thing of the past. Yes, I lived through the Cold War, the Vietnam War with the tumult of the 1960s, the Watergate dissolution with government, growing income inequality, and a changing US government that pulled back on building for the future. But our NATO alliances, treaties with other nuclear powers, and trading relationships with countries around the world comforted me into thinking that everyone agreed that it is so much better to live in peace than in a constant state of fear and war.

Since 2001 when the United States was attacked by terrorists, the first invasion since Pearl Harbor in 1941, I have felt much more vulnerable. We engaged in two long-term wars in Afghanistan and Iraq that had very mixed results and left so many people damaged without gaining any real advantage, as far as I can understand. And today it seems our moral center and respect as a defender of democracy with a host of allies have been dramatically diminished.

When I was a kid, even during the tumultuous 1960s, we would drop everything to watch a NASA space launch. If a take off or splashdown occurred during school, our teachers would have arranged to have the TV brought into the classroom(s) or auditoriums so we could watch it as a group. At home the whole family gathered around the TV in awe.

There were some who complained that the government should be spending money on other things, but even they seemed to be proud of our nation’s fulfillment of President Kennedy’s challenge of landing a man on the moon by the end of the decade.

In July 1969, people on Earth stood still when astronauts landed on the moon. I was so amused that the series Mad Men captured this in one episode. It was a BIG DEAL! My own family was camping at the Chesapeake Bay. Some people had portable TVs and were watching. There was a major thunderstorm and our parents decided to break camp and drive back home, but we listened to the thrilling experience.

The NASA pictures that came back from those missions were spectacular. Seeing Earth from space with no map lines between countries or states, just blue and brown, green, and white really made people think about the world as one home for all. NO ONE is better than anyone else when you see Earth from this vantagepoint. It is the only place in our Solar System that could sustain life.

It is no wonder that after rampant smog and pollution cause by industry and cars, efforts were made to protect the planet. March 21, 1970 ushered in Earth Day to focus on the health of Earth. Later that year, Nixon approved the establishment of the EPA, the Environmental Protection Agency. Ronald Reagan led the efforts to ban flurocarbons that were destroying the Ozone layer in the 1980s.

It has been over 50 years since those days. But NASA’s successful Artemis launch and the pictures from the moon have reignited so many people’s love and interest in American space exploration along with our realization of how vulnerable we are.

At my house we were excited to watch the launch on TV on April 1, the first night of Passover and just a few days before Easter, and have been following the mission’s journey around the dark side of the moon, further than any human has gone before. This is an event that we can all agree is a huge achievement and really can bring even people who disagree with so much that is going on, together.

I’m so grateful for this reminder that Earth will keep spinning no matter what we do, whether we annihilate each other nor not. It will just be so much better for everyone if we humans figure out how to get along and help each other out so that we all enjoy a good life for ourselves and future generations.