The moon, the stars and the wonder of it all….

By Elizabeth Cutright
© 2012 The Daily Creative Writer

I was reminded over the weekend just how lucky I was to be part of a generation where space travel was not just awe-inspiring, but possible – something to aspire to. I grew up during the space shuttle years, and remember vividly what it was like to see that first ship land, gliding in atop a Boeing 747, looking for all the world like something out of a sci-fi novella. And yet it was real. Humans were turning space into their own backyard – and with that exploration came an exponential leap in innovation and technology. Take a look at your smart phone, your iPad, your flat screen: we owe it all to NASA.

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Being too young to witness the moonwalk first hand, my parents nevertheless raised me to respect the accomplishment. My father – an electrical engineer – had been part of the space program in some capacity that I’m not completely clear on (but I know it involved heat tiles and one of the Apollo missions), and so I was ever aware of the prestige and the importance of it all. To this day, it’s still a chicken-egg mystery – did I grow up loving sci-fi because of my parents’ love of science and space? Or did science fiction spark my imagination, making the space program not just another boring government activity, but a vital, magical happening?

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All I know for sure is that in a time when the shuttle program no longer exists and NASA’s funding is continually threatened, I am grateful for the sense of wonder and possibility I got to experience as a child of the space age. As Robert Browning famously said, “a man’s grasp should exceed his reach, or what’s a heaven for?”

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The same sense of faith…of leaping and expecting the net to appear…of planning and strategizing and knowing to expect the unexpected….all these elements are integral not just to a walk on the moon or an exploration of Mars, but to the writer, the creative, the aspiring artist. They’re lessons we must learn. Vital elements we must cultivate in ourselves. Confidence we must nurture so that we can capture some of that magic and mystery – the wonder of the unknown.

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As writers, we too are setting out into uncharted sky-scapes every day. We are frontiersmen, explorers and astronauts.

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So in honor of Neil Armstrong, a man I have always admired, here are some beautiful, inspiring words of wisdom about the moon and the stars and the life we live beneath them.

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“Mystery creates wonder, and wonder is the basis of man’s desire to understand.”

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“Shoot for the stars but if you happen to miss, shoot for the moon instead.”

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“There can be no great accomplishment without risk.”

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“It suddenly struck me that that tiny pea, pretty and blue, was the Earth. I put up my thumb and shut one eye, and my thumb blotted out the planet Earth. I didn’t feel like a giant. I felt very, very small.”

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All Content is the sole Property of Elizabeth Cutright and The Daily Creative Writer, if you are reading this blog on another site, it has been reposted without the author’s permission and is in violation of the DMCA. © 2012 The Daily Creative Writer

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