The Dilemma:

                   Right Time? Wrong Time? - Any Time!

Considering the variables of timing, we begin with the obvious. A few weeks before important mid term elections is no time to focus on totally irrelevant topics. Not when the media is overloaded with political concentration. On the other hand, it is probably a good time to get away from the deluge of candidate commercials, too many so-called debates, and a rush to judgement by knowledgeable columnists.

So, what else is new? And there lies the rub. Not much. Nothing! Now, think back. When was the last time this country was galvanized by a plan of action that challenged the imagination? No. Not a series of wars. No - not the World Trade Center attacks. No. Not a presidential election that was decided by the Supreme Court. Not even the current foray into the automotive future by Google with their driverless car!

Now. Check your calendar. It was May 25, 1961 when President John F. Kennedy, addressing the US Congress stated that America would become the first country to land a man on the moon! The gasp was heard around the world. It was incredible. Unbelievable. Science fiction! But, on July 20, 1969, in less time than had been calculated for the great adventure to happen, Neil Armstrong stepped out of his space ship cabin to be the first man to set foot on the moon!

1961 to 2010. Forty nine years, and not one single event has captured the imagination of the citizens of the USA and the world in a dramatic outpouring of euphoria as stirring as the moon moment in time! Oh, there have been many memorable events worthy of note - but none to equal the planning, the announcement, the execution and the accomplishment of the moon event. Furthermore, few events have been so positive in the daring and sheer exhilaration, generated by the President's announcement. 

Surely, the American public would welcome a similar super charge of buoyancy delivered by our current President. Not that it is at hand, awaiting the proper time to make the announcement. It is simply a challenge to the powers that be in this country that there is more to consider than recession, depression, foreclosure, unemployment and a host of political obstacles that might endanger further, the declining image of America. We are coasting along in a time warp that seems to say that all that is to be conceptualized, invented, or devised has been done. There is no feeling that the brilliant minds of those who work in labs, think tanks, or research confines, are on the cutting edge of something new, something grandiose, something to make us realize that all has not been discovered.

Perhaps the mood of the country has depressed those who have that wonderful ability to imagine the unimaginable. Perhaps those who have the cutting edge ready to go, sense that a Congress of the United States would never allocate necessary funds to launch the astonishing plan which has never been tested. Perhaps we are too busy trying to dig ourselves out of a morass that in and of itself was unimaginable just a few years ago!

Who knows whence it will come. But as certain as the sunrise and sunset, there will be a day when this President, or the next, or thereafter, will address Congress and make the announcement that, perhaps, no person alive today has the foresight or wisdom to take the steps that, once again, will enable this country to 'reach for the moon'! As we stated in the heading for ViewPoint this day, let it happen without regard for "Right or Wrong" time. Make it any time. America awaits!

Richard Carlton

October 15, 2010

Issue No. 21