CURIOSITY

Among the doom and gloom enveloping our struggling and warring, tired and terror-stricken world, here comes a ray of shining cosmic luminosity: the perfect landing of NASA’s space rover Curiosity on the planet Mars. The unique pictures have already started coming back to Earth.

Why is this feat so important? Apart from its colossal scientific value, an even greater achievement has been its demonstration of an optimistic mental attitude and an uplifting state of mind, which used to characterize the American nation from the very beginning. There is much more to human life than the minutia of daily struggle for survival. Shakespeare, Michelangelo and Bach do not pay our bills, but they elevate the quality of human life above and beyond mere animal existence. In this sense, for humanity in general, Curiosity, at the very least, symbolizes such a transcendence. There is more to a superpower than dollars and bombs.

The task is now to bring home this tremendous achievement to the disillusioned, skeptical and embittered American public. It is admittedly hard to persuade millions of people who have lost their jobs, their houses, their savings, even their belief in the American Dream, that there exists a sublime value, far greater than the here and now of waking up to the unpleasant realities of today and going to bed in fear of tomorrow. It is, indeed, tragic that so many, far too many, feel like they have nothing good to live for.

It is therefore imperative to spin the Curiosity story like no other story has been spinned, for, unlike most of today’s stories, this one deserves the best spin. The media must make it front page news, the country’s top pundits, psychologists, clergymen, and celebrities must use all their persuasive skills and authority to make the American public fall in love with Curiosity, and be proud of her and of their country. For, indeed, this is a worthy cause, and there is much to be proud of here.

So, bravo, America! Don’t lose this true superpower spirit! Cultivate and perpetuate it!