This is a response to the one-word prompt “Moon” by “The Daily Post.”
When was the last time you or someone you knew reached for your/their “moon” and achieved something really great that was very fall out of reach? When was the last time the United States as a country, as a society reached for the “moon” again? That is, when has the goal of doing something, reset the bar for achievement? A problem that I see in today’s world is that hardly anyone is really trying to achieve big things anymore.
Oh sure things are still being made that change the world around them and new technology is coming out all the time now, but it’s not something really new, new. The bar of success hardly moves higher anymore. Going back to the original moon landing; when the United States as a nation set out to do so by a certain deadline and did do so, that changed the bar for success and greatness. It wasn’t that before great things were not ever done or achieved, just that the expectation of what could be done had changed.
We have not really seen that kind of “reaching for the moon” achievement in quite some time, at least I have not. This fact is not good for society in the long run because it is the bigger achievements in life that enable and encourage all other achievements. You don’t believe me, let’s go back to the Moon Landing and the rest of the Space Race during the Cold War.
Think of all the technological breakthroughs for everyday life that resulted both from the original technology needed for the Moon landing and all other achievements in the Space Race and just humans going to space, as well as the emotional impact of said achivements. It was not so much the new technology and knowledge that resulted from such achievements but the emotional heigh that resulted that mattered.
This here is key, for in life whether it is the individual or society as a whole, we all get the majority of our inspiration for new ideals from watching, seeing, and hearing about the success of other great ideals that turn into great achievements such as the moon landing. We as humans crave, no need to have inspiration to fuel our ideals, to motivate us. By seeing something very big and life changing be done that was once unthinkable, we are then challenged to do more. We then know what is possible if only we reach for it. It is only our admigenations and will or lack of such that hold us back.
Again I am not saying that we as a society and as individuals are no longer making great strives and success in live in all its aspects, just that we have been living off of emotional high of past great succes for to long and that we are over do for a new boost in spirit. We need something that will once again reset the bar for succes, that will encourage us to do more and enchive more for not only ourselves but for the greater society. So if you have an idea go out and pursue it and perhaps one day it may very well turn into one of those life changing “great successes” that will change the world and enspire countless others to do the same.