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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