Men do not walk on the moon
The Space Race of the 1950s and 1960s marked one of the most significant inflection points in human history.
Up until that point, the concept of going to space was something so incredibly inconceivable that it was laughable.
Humans had barely taken their first flight 50 years ago.
If you had told someone at The Wright Brother’s first flight in 1903 that humans are going to be riding rocket ships into space within their lifetime it would have not been comprehensible.
Technological progress is something that seems impossible until it is done.
For any big audacious goal, there will always be naysayers that say it cannot be done.
There will be those that say “Men do not walk on the moon”
And then there will be those that put a man on the moon.
In 1962 JFK delivered his famous “We choose to go to the Moon” speech at Rice University.
(If you have never heard it, listen to the full speech. It is 17 minutes, but very worth it.)
Listening to this speech in 2022 may not feel extremely groundbreaking, since 1962 a lot has changed in regard to space travel.
But, at the time he was saying the impossible.
He was saying something so incredibly audacious that most didn’t believe that it was possible.
This was beyond jumping into the deep end of the pool.
This was creating a pool that didn’t exist.
So, why does this matter?
The world is created by those who choose not to wait. Those that press on in face of trials.
The future doesn’t just appear, it is forced into existence. Magic didn’t send a rocket ship to space. It was engineers powered by 1000s of gallons of fuel forcing a 4.4 million pound metal tube out of our atmosphere into the unknown.
If we can take one thing away from the space race is that we should strive to have hard goals.
As JFK puts it, “Because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills because that challenge is one that we’re willing to accept. One we are unwilling to postpone.”
So, go out and set hard goals that scare you.
What we’re reading now: Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown.
Great Monday read🔥