What Will Our Children’s Kids Aspire to When They Look Up at the Night Sky?

24 November 2010

Fifty years ago we actually aspired to something other than self-indulgence

Columnist Bob Herbert said recently:

Whatever one thinks of the tragically short Kennedy administration, we’d do well to pay renewed attention to the lofty ideals and broad themes that Kennedy brought to the national stage. We’ve become so used to aiming low that mediocrity is seen as a step up. We need to be reminded of what is possible.

In addition to the obvious idiocies of our time, isn’t it paradigmatically humiliating that we will have to catch rides on Russian rockets to supply the Space Station?

As a kid on 4 October 1957, I was eager for us to compete with the Soviet Union’s Sputnik 1 satellite. Thanks to President Kennedy, we raced to the moon.

Today, I’m chagrined at American modernity’s casual disregard for building constructive national accomplishments.