In the Midst of Infinite Blackness

I don't know if anyone else saw it, but I happened to catch a program on Turner Classic Movies last night called "For All Mankind," a 1989 documentary comprised of personal footage shot by the Apollo astronauts and film from NASA archives, narrated by the actual Apollo astronauts. The film, with footage that I have never seen before, clearly showcased the awesome achievement, danger and humor that went into the moon landings.

I grew up with the NASA space program and I still remember hanging the microphone from my portable tape recorder over the speaker of my family's tinny, old, black and white TV, so I could record Walter Cronkite's reportage of the space flights. I wish I could have preserved those tapes.

What struck me most were the images of this profoundly beautiful blue and green and white ball hanging there in the midst of infinite blackness. I thought, this is all we've got. There is no escape. There is no reprieve; that we've been blessed with this incredible, amazing, impossible gift, and yet mankind squanders this gift with incomprehensible war, evil and brutality against each other and against our planet.

It was almost more than I could bear.