Inner Space

Life would be so wonderful if we only knew what to do with it.

Greta Garbo
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Why does it take decades fro most of us to really understand ourselves and know what we want to do with our lives. We may have a clear enough idea once, but then things come along to cloud it, jobs, making a living, raising a family. And when we get to our senior years maybe we rediscover what it was we wanted to live for, and maybe not. I sometimes query myself about some of the things I wanted during my childhood, trying to remember.

Some people never do discover themselves, but they probably don't know it since their lives have been occupied doing something, and maybe it was important and fulfilling to them in a way.

Then there are some lucky people who got started when they were young on exactly the right highway to take them to the lives they wanted. Listening to the astronauts being interviews I note that most of them were inspired to work somehow in the space industry when they were quite young. They were intrigued by such things as the flight of Yuri Gagarin, or John Glenn, and later by Neil Armstrong stepping on the moon. The activities of the astronauts and cosmonauts are still inspiring kids today.

I wanted to be an astronaut when I was 12. Only there were no such things in those days. No one had been to the moon, no one had even been into outer space, in fact nothing had been there. The sputnik hadn't been launched yet. That wasn't going to happen for another 6 years. But I knew we would travel into outer space and I wanted to do that.

I was soon completely talked out of any venture into space by those who thought they were authorities on the subject. So I did the next best thing, I went into show business.

Like Greta Garbo I retired from my acting career. That was about 10 years ago. I was never a star like Garbo, but as she I was peppered with questions about it. I don't know what she did with her life after her retirement, she was a solitary figure who could occasionally be seen out for a stroll in Manhattan, but rarely spoke to anyone.

I enjoy watching NASA TV, seeing the launches and the work being done on the space station. I no longer think about going into space (though wouldn't that be fun?) but my life's adventure now is into a different universe. It's a mental space I lift off into now. Just as vast and unexplored. And one of these days I hope to achieve orbit.

DB - The Vagabond
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WINTER QUESTION
(This is not a contest)

What was the most significant event that happened in 2010?

dbdacoba@aol.com

Only 6 responses so far

I await your answer.
DB
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The Bear Went Over The Mountain

All we know is still infinitely less than all that remains unknown.

William Harvey
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Or, as I like to say, the difference between what we know and what we don't know is the difference between a marble and the solar system. Some people don't like to consider that. It frightens them, or something. I have said that about the marble to people in the past and received a very negative reaction. But if we can't acknowledge that we are ignorant about something there's no hope of learning about it.

I grew up with people who didn't want to know anything beyond what they knew. As a result whenever I expressed an opinion about something I had observed or learned about I was scornfully called a "know-it-all." Perhaps you've heard that term used to describe someone, or maybe even yourself.

The fact that there is so much about life and the universe we live in that we don't know depresses some people. But why should that be? Why should there be a fear of the unknown? And why should a curious person be criticized for finding things out and discouraged from trying? I think it's a very bad trait in humans to close down the labs and libraries and close up the mind.

When that backward process grows into how we treat education we are asking for trouble. Of course, we don't think it's trouble at all. We think it's just making life simpler and easier to live. "Ignorance is bless." "What you don't know won't hurt you." "Don't go poking your nose into things you don't understand."

Imagine what our lives would be like if everyone followed those suppressive rules. As well as my remark about the marble I used to like to make fun of ignorance by saying "All that readin' ain't good for the mind."

Another comment I used to get while growing up was an equally scornful unthinking response to something I said "Oh, is that so?" I finally got to the point where I would say "Yes, it's so" which would generally bring on an argument and I would find myself defending something I wasn't quite sure of. Eventually I learned one of life's best lessons which is that in some circumstances it is best to keep your mouth shut.

When I was a kid I wanted to be an explorer. I admired the people who trekked off into a wilderness no one had been in before, or sailed ships into unknown seas. Mariners who found an uncharted island somewhere in the Pacific, or adventurers who found an isolated tribe of people in the Brazilian jungle or an ancient forgotten temple in Asia now overgrown with shrubs and hyenas were heroes to me.

Then I got older, the call came in from the theatre and I knew that's what my life would be about. I gave up the jungles and oceans of the world and went in the direction of a different kind of adventure. I don't regret it, but I am still fascinated by the discoveries of science and original thought.

I watch the astronauts in the Space Station and know that it is simply a gateway to the vast universe and knowledge of time and space about which we know almost nothing. Every blast off of the giant Saturn rocket is just another baby step to peer through that gate into the unknown. I wish I could live forever just to see what new knowledge is going to be uncovered. Evidently my curiosity and delight in learning new things hasn't waned as a result of my senior citizenship. Even though we can never know it all we can enjoy the discoveries along the way.

As for the back seat drivers who want to call a halt to exploration and cry
"enough's enough" ignore them. Their cause is hopeless. And keep your mouth shut or you'll only get an argument and you can't win an argument with an ignorant person.

I always want to know something today I didn't know yesterday, a piece of music I've never heard before, a new useful vocabulary word, how to mix a more mysterious blue on the canvas, an inspired piece of poetry or the realization of some item of wisdom that was in the unconscious depths of my own mind. It's the best game in the world..

DB - The Vagabond
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WEEKEND PUZZLE

One item is missing from each of the lists below.
What is it?

2 right answers so far.

Annapolis
Atlanta
Augusta
Austin
**************
Baton Rouge
Bismark
Boise
***************
Carson City
Charleston
Cheyenne
Columbus
Concord
***********
Harrisburg
Hartford
Helena
**************
Sacramento
Saint Paul
Salem
Santa Fe
Springfield
************

Good luck
DB