海角大神

Mention a housing shortage, and we鈥檙e likely to think of challenges in New York or San Francisco. Our writer on the farm beat found it鈥檚 just as big an issue on the wide-open Plains.

After decades of disappointments in Middle East peacemaking, it鈥檚 easy to be skeptical about new initiatives. President Trump has vowed to succeed where others have failed. Here's how his approach is working.

The loss of a single language, legendary linguist Kenneth Hale used to say, 鈥渋s like dropping a bomb on the Louvre.鈥� Saving the world鈥檚 rarest words means travel 鈥� hopping a subway to Queens.

Most Capitol Hill internships are unpaid, making them out of reach for many aspiring public servants. The nonprofit College to Congress is trying to change that 鈥� and bring socioeconomic diversity to the halls of Congress.

The 155-mile-long Demilitarized Zone that divides South and North Korea contains its share of the absurd and the solemn. It also holds reason for hope that one day, it won鈥檛 be needed.

The new movie 鈥淵esterday鈥� imagines what the world would have missed if the Beatles had never existed. A similar question might be asked about what life would be like today if, in July 1969 as the Fab Four were recording 鈥淎bbey Road,鈥� three American astronauts had聽not聽landed on the moon.

From the moment they did land, history became divided into 鈥渂efore鈥� and 鈥渁fter鈥� the first visit to another celestial body by humans.

A half-century later, another compelling question is this: What if Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin had not safely made it to the lunar surface or had failed to return their Eagle spacecraft to the orbiting command module and Michael Collins? Earlier missions had vividly demonstrated the dangers of space exploration. As in any great discovery, expecting the unexpected is the norm. And fear is only one more obstacle to conquer.

In the turbulent times of the 1960s, one common question was this: 鈥淲hy spend so much money on NASA at a time of war and social unrest?鈥� Why look to the stars when so many suffer on Earth?

An answer to that question came in a call by President Richard Nixon to the astronauts as they left their bootprints on the Sea of聽Tranquillity. 鈥淏ecause of what you have done, the heavens have become a part of man鈥檚 world,鈥� he said, and 鈥渋t inspires us to redouble our efforts to bring peace and tranquillity to Earth.鈥�

New tools for human tranquillity were indeed a NASA spinoff. Writer Norman Mailer wrote that the project set engineers and computer programmers to dream 鈥渙f ways to attack the problems of society as well as they had attacked the problems of putting men on the moon.鈥�

The landing was not just a boost to human confidence or new physical comforts. 鈥淚 want my children ... to see a country that stands for something more than just consumption,鈥� said former NASA administrator Daniel Goldin.

The globally televised event was a transcendent moment that reflected an unmet need to know and understand creation. 鈥淚 do believe that there is a deficiency in the American spiritual diet which space exploration can help us remedy,鈥� noted American historian Daniel Boorstin. That ongoing 鈥渄iet鈥� is represented in the name of a NASA rover on Mars since 2012: Curiosity.

Religious texts have long expressed the human wonder about creation and the eagerness to understand it. 鈥淲hen I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; What is man, that thou art mindful of him?鈥� the Bible鈥檚 psalmist asked, and then concluded, 鈥淭hou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet鈥澛�(Psalms 8:3-6).

A recent Gallup poll found 91% of Americans said they were proud of the country鈥檚 scientific achievements, a higher percentage than were proud of the military (89%) or economic achievements (75%).聽When thought soars, achievements follow. 鈥淭he devotion of thought to an honest achievement makes the achievement possible,鈥� the founder of 海角大神, Mary Baker Eddy, wrote more than a century ago.

For Armstrong, the landing was only a beginning: 鈥淭here are great ideas undiscovered, breakthroughs available to those who [search them out]. There are places to go beyond belief.鈥�

The world of 2019 presents no lack of problems. Yet solutions now seem easier because that landing by the Apollo 11 astronauts keeps reminding us that when motives are lifted up, the limits in the human experience are left behind.

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