I'm told I should be a writer

Here's an excerpt from an essay I wrote on NASA

Constructive criticism or just criticism... welcomed.
 
The insatiable hunger for new knowledge, coupled with maniacally unearthing virgin frontiers to quench that ache, has served to implant deep within Human culture… wanderlust. Throughout history, societies have coerced their people and technologies towards being first to behold the new and strange. In the early sixteenth century, Europe was fixated on exploring and colonizing the new world. Tomatoes, corn, tobacco, and immaculate land were the rewards to whom was first to lay claim. It took several hundred years for mankind to conquer that expanse, and soon after, the sky became the target of our all-controlling desires. On wooden-wing and reliable zephyr that youthful frontier was tamed and collared, for the benefit of all. Still not satisfied, lunar ambitions soon become the twinkle in the eye of society. Seated foremost, Mankind hurled itself, with the fiery roar of colossal engines, away from the steadfast constraints of Terra Firma. Sadly, the resolve to endure and occupy the celestial hinterlands seemed to atrophy, like the once zealous dedication shown in striving for that now—actualized accomplishment. The all-enveloping sense of wonderment and curiosity for the unknown, which was coerced by society to fuel immense advancements of societal and technological progress, is now under threat of becoming defunct. If the status-quo of allowing the cultural significance of NASA to further wallow in mediocrity and uncertainty, America will soon lose the long treasured societal pastime: of looking towards the future with wonderment, and with genuine eagerness to explore the exotic or unknown.

The exploration of the unknown does not only entail planting the American flag on alien soils.  That type of achievement can only be derived from uncertain ventures and explorations into the infinite sphere of exotic technological knowledge.  The phrase “it’s the journey, not the destination” can rarely be likened to a more appropriate undertaking.  The development of the initial space programs: Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, to the continuation of the current Shuttle program has elicited a type of collateral damage.  Inadvertently or not, the destruction of obsolete technologies and ideas has made way for the fruits of innovation to blossom.  The running analogy to agriculture is not by accident.  NASA’s laser-directed drive in innovating or inventing singular technologies, of which at times seem far above-and-beyond any sort of earth-bound use, have sowed seeds capable of exponential growth within business, culture, and even individuals.  By perfecting the technology to put satellites into orbit, businesses of all nationalities honed the notion of instant and horizon-less data communications.  The Hubble Space Telescope bestowed mankind with crystal-clear and awe-inspiring photographs of worlds trillions of light-years away; the old notion that the Earth is alone within the Universe is dead and gone.  Senator Brownback illuminates the multiple effects NASA has had on the Individual, for the best and worst.  “NASA has, from its inception, been charged with making the impossible possible… NASA has given us a sense of national pride.”  He continues with,
In fact, American society itself is built on the idea that success only comes from a stern effort… The importance of persistence throughout history seems almost too obvious to clarify. We universally celebrate our heroes who drive past obstacles and hardships.  But it seems as if we often take them for granted. When faced with current challenges, such as the loss of the Space Shuttle Columbia, many are quick to hesitate and mellow.  They assume that success is born easily; that setbacks are failures in principle rather than unfortunate steps in practice along the way.  (Brownback)
There are many that would say all of the domestic gains from the Space Program are eventual.  And, that it’s unwise to sink crucial resources into a program that does not directly respond to the ample needs of the people.  I say, we have never given NASA a respectable budget throughout its entire existence.  At NASA’s peak in 1966, they received 5.5% of the federal budget and has only since then ebbed to just over half of one-percent.  Conversely while NASA shrunk, Social Security and Medicare ballooned to now consumes over forty-percent of the almost three-trillion dollar Federal budget (Wiki—National budget).  I’m sure the eradication of the personal hardships faced by the American underprivileged, and likewise the altruistic programs charged with giving aid to them, are merely 0.5% away from realization.  Masking the humiliation generated by the impotency of poorly crafted relief programs behind a conveniently faltering NASA program, is a grotesque disservice and a blatant lie to the public.
    If a future trial were convened with the charge of illuminating or exposing the entity responsible for the demise of the American Space program, and with it the American dream.  The culprit to which society’s implicating appendage would ultimately point to would be quite familiar; it would only need to point inward.  By becoming so mired within the novelties of our own blinding success and tragic failures, forgetfulness on how they were achieved grew profound.  The expression “Great ambition and conquest without contribution is without significance,” comes to mind.  NASA was not implemented with the singular goal of taxiing Humanity to other worlds.  It’s a continuation of a long tradition.  A tradition championed by anyone willing to wonder what endured just out of sight, and dismissed the notion of what was out of sight… was out of mind.  Is society so pidgin boned that we were beaten back, and broken down, by petty apparitions of our own making?  Fortunately, the threshold between crisis and impending doom still lies uncrossed.  The ability to redirect the mighty resources of this country, and for that matter the world, is still feasible and viable.  A most basic understanding is all that’s required in grasping the extensive potential space exploration embodies.  How sad would it be if, looking back, it was this generation’s heavy feet and clumsy hands that doomed society’s capacity to wonder, to dream, and to explore?