Thursday, March 14, 2013

Take me. Please! I have always had a fascination with the world outside. I don't just mean the great outdoors or even travelling to other countries. I mean the outer world or the worlds beyond our world. That is not to say that our inner worlds are not equally as fascinating... and then there is the microscopic world and beyond that the worlds we cannot even see. There's the things that are too small for microscopes and the quantum world. A world that won't even let us look at it without putting on a crazy kind of deceptive show. Pretty much everything about ourselves and the universe we inhabit is just downright amazing. However, it is the worlds beyond our own that have captivated me the most. As soon as I had learnt that we lived on a planet (just one of many in our own solar system) and of the possibility of a wealth of other planets around the many millions of stars, I knew that I wanted to see these other worlds. I wouldn't be the first child who longed to travel into outer space and I know I won't be the last to have that dream. I hope that I do live to see the day when somebody fulfils that shared hope. I was a wee boy sitting on my father's lap when we made it to the Moon. I watched the live broadcast though being only two and a half years old I don't remember a single thing about that day. I was raised on the promise that it wouldn't be too long before we were all travelling to the Moon and beyond. Progress has slowed of late...but you never know, maybe my kids may have that chance. When I was growing up, the promise of interplanetary travel was very real to me . It was one of the few things that my young mind could be certain about, that and the fact that the universe just had to be brimming with life. Not just any life but a multitude of grand and ancient civilisations that had been visiting us for millennia or at the very least were itching to meet us as much as we them. I use to stand in the back yard at night peering up at the stars. Being from a small country town light pollution was not a really a problem. You could still see the arc of the Milky Way on the average moonless night. I used to stand with my arms outstretched and call out to the sky "Hello Aliens, I'm down here. Come and take me a way in your spaceship. I'll tell you everything you need to know about life here on Earth." Needless to say they never took up my offer. I can't think why. A ten year old humanoid earth boy is what every self respecting alien needs as a font of information, sidekick and confidant. It wasn't that I couldn't wait to get away from my family (really!) or that I longed to leave the Earth. I just knew that there was more out there and I saw no reason why I shouldn't be the one chosen to explore it. I would have made an excellent ambassador for our world. I love humans... despite our many flaws. I wanted the aliens to understand the wonder that we felt in our hearts. I was a wide eyed idealist and I'm proud to say that I still am today. Our world offers up many challenges and I know that life is not some sort of hunky dory Disney dream. Indeed, life can be an absolute nightmare... sometimes. Mostly it is a grand adventure and the borders between good and a bad dreams have always been a little bit blurred. I still look up to the stars whenever I get the chance. I don't call out aloud like I once did. I expect that if your a super advanced intergalactic traveller then telepathy would be the order of the day. I'd love to fly off with a benign intelligence just as long as they don't mind taking my family along for the ride. I imagine it is quite hard to hitch a lift when you need at least five seats and enough Milo for the return journey.