It's good to be a human being

I've seen Hubble at the Science Museum twice and it has made quite an impact.  As I sat there the first time, I watched the space shuttle take off and then the camera panned to the crowd of people sitting in the stands watching the take-off in person.  Regular folks in baseball caps and t-shirts, holding binoculars and kids, oooh-ing and aaah-ing as these 4 astronauts, our representatives as human beings, blasted off into outer space. 

I remembered how as a 7th grader when asked to choose my future dream profession, I answered "first teacher on the orbiting space station."  The dream has seemed more improbable each year and going into 40 with no school in space in sight, I'm guessing I'll never go.  But I wanted to.  Watching these elite astronauts launch, I saw in an instant how ridiculous my dream was- a 12 year old, fat girl with glasses- and I was humiliated.  How presumptuous and utterly ludicrous. 

And then in the next moment, my perspective changed and I saw how noble and beautiful it is to be a human being who wants to go to the stars, who sits in the stands clapping for those who can, who pays taxes so someone can go for us and satisfy our curiosity.  And that's what it boils down to- curiosity and awe.  So human and so beautiful even when it's ridiculous.  We repair ridiculously expensive telescopes in oven mitt size space suit gloves so we can glimpse what's beyond our horizon.  That's the human spirit.

I used to walk laps at the Y while a special ed class of teenagers was walking the track or being pushed in wheelchairs.  There was this one girl who was in a wheelchair and could only move by pulling herself with one foot.  And still she did her lap one little scoot at a time, determined to move anyway.  Then there was this boy who couldn't even remotely control his own wheelchair so one of the teachers pushed him around the track.  Once, I saw a young teacher grab the handles and start running around the track.  The boy threw his head back, hair blowing in the breeze, laughing with pure delight.  I walked with tears running down my face in awe of the sheer beauty of the human spirit.  I used to feel sorry for people like him that they would never run and now I feel honored to be a human being like him who longs to go faster with the breeze in his hair.  That's the human spirit.

It is very good to be a human being, even one who will never in this lifetime see an earthrise or experience weightlessness.  Especially good to be a human being who longs to anyway.

I've decided that I would like to see a space launch, shuttle or whatever comes after, sometime in my lifetime.  And I'm asking God that when I cross over, I get a room with a view of that stellar nursery.