海角大神

Democracies aim to turn political passions into protests and activism. Living through such a time, however, draws on civic reservoirs of patience and goodwill. 聽

In the wake of the Arab Spring, many Western powers have accepted the rise of strongmen leaders in the interest of stability. But Jamal Khashoggi's disappearance could point to the dangers of where that approach leads.聽

The confirmation process for Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh marked a failure of the Senate鈥檚聽traditions of fellowship and calm deliberation. Rekindling them will depend on senators鈥� commitment to the task. 聽

After 50 years of separatist battles, Quebec finally appears to feel at home in Canada. But there are signs聽that the identity politics of the past might simply be taking new forms.聽

One restaurant chain鈥檚 efforts to help homeless youths 鈥� many of聽whom have aged out聽of the foster-care system 鈥� shows that changing a life often聽begins with building a聽sense of belonging and family.

A half-century ago this week (Oct. 11) Apollo 7 rode a pillar of fire into Earth鈥檚 orbit. It marked the beginning of one of the most remarkable feats of exploration in human history, the Apollo moon missions. By the time the final Apollo crew splashed into the Pacific Ocean a little more than four years later, 12 astronauts aboard six Apollo spacecraft had landed on the moon. They became the first humans to leave Earth and explore another celestial body.

A just-released feature film, 鈥淔irst Man,鈥� retells the story of Neil Armstrong, the astronaut who made the first boot marks in the lunar dust. His small step off Apollo鈥檚 lander in July 1969 became a 鈥済iant leap for mankind.鈥� Only eight years had passed since President John F. Kennedy had committed the United States to land the first human on the moon by the end of the decade.

The Apollo program has been credited with kick-starting a scientific revolution that exploded in the following decades, a technological path that can be traced down to today鈥檚 computers and cellphones.

In December 1968, the crew of Apollo 8 circled the moon, conducting tests in preparation for Armstrong鈥檚 landing the following summer. It was the first time humans had ventured beyond Earth鈥檚 orbit. On Christmas Eve, in a rare moment of downtime, astronaut Bill Anders glanced out the spacecraft鈥檚 window and was awestruck by what he saw. He quickly grabbed a camera and snapped a picture of a blue-and-white sphere emerging in the blackness of space above the lunar horizon. The photo became known as 鈥淓arthrise,鈥� often referred to today as one of the most famous and influential photos ever taken. (Two other views of Earth from space, 鈥淭he Blue Marble鈥� and 鈥淭he Pale Blue Dot,鈥� have also achieved iconic status.)

鈥淭o see the earth as it truly is, small and blue and beautiful in that eternal silence where it floats, is to see ourselves as riders on the earth together,鈥� wrote poet Archibald MacLeish shortly after, 鈥渂rothers on that bright loveliness in the eternal cold 鈥� brothers who know now they are truly brothers.鈥�

No national boundaries can be seen. No wars or political infighting are visible. The view became a symbol for environmental responsibility as well. This 鈥渃osmic oasis, cosmic blue pearl,鈥� as Indian poet Abhay Kumar later called the planet, is the one and mutual home of all humanity, the stage for the whole human story, surrounded by a void of seemingly endless space. It merits tender, thoughtful care.

As more details of the historic moon missions are retold in the coming years, more of the immense meaning of these epic journeys will unfold to each generation. The Apollo missions will have another chance to perhaps inspire new achievements that will once again lift human thinking to a new orbit.