Discovery takes courage. And gets little gratitude along the way.
It may come as a surprise to some people who have known me a very long time, but I was not present in 1492 when Christopher Columbus convinced Queen Isabella of Spain to stake him the money for his sail westward on the Nina, the Pinta and the Santa Maria.
But I imagine what the conversation was like. Columbus was talking about sailing into the great unknown — perhaps to sail off the edge of the world — to discover that which no one knew existed. It was science in the making.
And while he spoke, Queen Isabella was hearing all the reasons why she should part with the cash in pursuit of world dominance for Spain. It was real and power politik at its finest.
And still, there were naysayers giving every reason why it couldn’t, shouldn’t and wouldn’t be done.
It is a good thing Columbus was persuasive in his zeal to discover and that the good Queen was both wealthy and wily when it came to matters of state. Had she not said “yes,” Columbus would not have found the New World, and we might still be undiscovered, which means Jeff Bezos and Sir Richard Branson would be milling about with billions of dollars and nowhere and nothing to spend it on.
At a time when the world and, especially, the United States of America has completely gone mad — witness our latest and lamest response to COVID-19 and its variants — these most recent two trips into space have provided a welcome respite to those weary of the world in which we live and who yearn for a world just beyond our reach.
This opportunity to dream once again of an existence in which sanity prevails, science preempts and imagination prescribes is being brought to all of us by the billionaires in our midst.
To which I say: “Thank you.”
Mind you, I am not questioning their motivation. Just their flight schedules to see if by chance I might be around to take one of those far less expensive trips into the wild blue yonder that heretofore have only been the province of NASA astronauts and their colleagues from other countries.
Just as we shouldn’t question the motives in charitable giving — who cares why people give, only that they help — there is no good reason to pick apart the billionaires who are spending their money to pursue their dreams which will, eventually, inure to the benefit of everyone on this planet.
And yet, the naysayers persist. At a time when we should be rejoicing in manned space flight — privately funded — there are still far too many voices finding fault.
People just can’t be satisfied these days with rocket ships slipping the surly bonds of Earth and heading toward the heavens. No, some folks just have to complain.
But, instead of complaining about real issues — our very real failure to do something about the homeless, the oppressed, the helpless and those who refuse to get vaccinated — there are too many people content to complain about those who do the hard work, dream the big dreams and take the risks needed to succeed in Tomorrowland.
And, while I am at it, not only did Bezos spend billions of dollars to launch himself and our dreams toward outer space, he used his successful mission to launch his own version of doing right and good in America. He gave Van Jones and Chef José Andres each $100 million to use as they see fit to help those who need it most. And I am sure this is just the beginning.
So, as much as I would have liked to be the guy who invented Tesla, the Virgin Companies and Amazon — and, yes, the Post-it note, too — I am happy that there are people who did. And I am happy that those people continue to dream and to commit their dollars toward a better world for all of us.
In short, trying to do good in my own small way, while rooting for the do-gooders and the do-greaters to succeed on a much grander scale, leaves me little or no time to complain.
And that makes me wonder why so many people have so much time to complain for the rest of us.
Brian Greenspun is editor, publisher and owner of the Sun.