A New World

Columbus found a world, and had no chart, save one that faith deciphered in the skies.

George Santayana

. . .Still to England I say
Good night, forever, good night!
For I have crossed the Rubicon
Let the bridge be burned behind me
Come what may, come what may. . .
The croakers all say we'll rue the day
There'll be hell to pay in fiery purgatory
Through all the gloom, through all the gloom
I see the rays of ravishing light and glory!
Is anybody there?
Does anybody care?
Does anybody see what I see?
I see fireworks!
I see the pageant and
Pomp and parade
I hear the bells ringing out. . .

William Daniels as “John Adams” delivering lyrics of “Is Anybody There ?” in 1776 (1972) directed by Peter H. Hunt, written by Sherman Edwards and Peter Stone

We have it in our power to begin the world over again.

Thomas Payne

One of the amazing things about history is what seems of monumental importance to the people living through it appears insignificant to their successors when viewed back through the looking glass of a far distant future. Similarly, real historical events -- hinges on which the destinies of nations and peopls turn are sometimes so huge and fundamental that those who see them miss it, somewhat in the way in which an ant cannot comprehend a great tree that suddenly appears in his path.

One of those events may have occurred just yesterday. Astronomers at the European Southern Obervatory in La Silla, Chile, have discovered a . . .potentially habitable planet. . .

Kingdoms and thrones and powers. . .Oh my.

Now, space travel is worth something because, at last, there is someplace to go. Probably if the astronomers have found one place . . .LOTS of places.

This changes everything now. We probably won't live to see it, or even our children, unless God and science are kind, but science fiction is soon to be no fiction at all. It's all coming, see. Voyages and colonies and empires and starships, as when the Earth was new. Maybe another America someplace in the stars, another Earth even. . . someday. Of course, all the idiots will hate it and fight it, but they're gonna lose. Now that we know it's all really Out There, nothing at all's going to stop our children, or their children from going.