On July 29, 1958, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the National Aeronautics and Space Act creating NASA.
The space program is NOT a waste of money; it IS a good, wise, and visionary investment. People from different cultures and backgrounds participate in its development, and as an example, there are Puerto Ricans who shine positively at NASA.
Those who attack the most, arguing that allocating funds to the space program while many die of hunger is wrong, are those who should most bear witness to treating their neighbors well and helping those in need. In various ways, the program serves, such as better studying the planet to protect it, and the universe to broaden horizons (objectively, measures are required to prevent the spread of issues such as pollution and conflict). The fact that there are problems and inequalities that must be corrected does not equate to fostering intellectual limitations and obscurantism.
The space program is a sound investment for growth and transcendence; going further to promote health and unique studies, greater justice, integral progress, and, to the extent of new awareness and broader understanding, a better distribution of wealth and the preservation of our planet's limited resources.
With that perspective, I include photos from 2024 when I had the blessing of seeing the lunar-themed exhibit at the National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution. Reviewing travel photos, family memories, and various life moments is beyond the reach of words. It can unite nostalgia with reasons for gratitude, as well as with the harsh shocks to the conscience.
The first thing you notice about that day is how quickly time passes in a short existence in an imperfect world. The transcendence lies in overcoming feelings of guilt and harmful ideas imposed by colonization more than 500 years ago, such as the cult of poverty and suffering, seeking to make better sense of everything without falling into conformity, and embracing the fact that each new day is a gift and an opportunity to be reborn and remade.
Every time I think of moments I wish I could relive, what could become a tear with the scent of balm, turns into the strength of a new heartbeat; how to be grateful for continuing to live, to look back serenely at the memory of my siblings, to look lovingly at my sister and nephews (including Alex's wife), to strive to grow in the face of various daily challenges, to seek to take new steps of faith, honoring the foundations of my education and a new beginning, and above all, to contempla each new dream to be realized with the vision, imagination, and passion that transcend the boundaries and paradigms of age, culture, and geography.
To boldly go... Happy Birthday to NASA!!!
--Gerardo L. Berrios-Martinez
