I can't tell you exactly when I developed my deep love of the night sky. I really don't remember. It seems like it has always been a part of me. The amazing, overwhelming sensation of looking up on a black night and seeing the countless suns blazing across the light years. Watching the planets move in their lazy ellipses. Maybe sighting a meteor or two.
When I entered college, I chose Astronomy as my major. Wanted to be the next Carl Sagan, I guess. As it happens, my romantic mind couldn't handle the clinical nature of Calculus. So I switched my major to English.
When I was thirteen, Star Wars was released. And I was hooked on Science Fiction. I began devouring SF books by the dozens. Star Trek reruns were quickly memorized. And then, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, a movie that affected me even more profoundly.
I do believe in the likelihood of life elsewhere in the galaxy. We're here. No reason for some other race not to be, too. And you know, someday, I'd like for us to be able to meet them. It may not be as pleasant a meeting as in Close Encounters. But I expect it'll be more civil than in Independence Day.
Whether or not there are alien intelligences to be encountered, we must continue our explorations of space. Even beyond knowledge for its own sake, we must start planning for the eventuality that Earth will not be able to support us forever. Whether our home planet dies as a result of our own negligence, or our own stupidity, or due to our sun's eventual death... We Must Populate The Galaxy.
The most comprehensive method for this that I have ever seen put in writing was done by the Living Universe Foundation. These folks are working toward the population of space in short order. And helping the people of the planet in other ways while they're at it. There are many other groups working toward this same goal, in as many different fashions. I mention LUF specifically because their efforts are those that I am most familiar with. I am proud to be counted among the ranks of their members. I urge you to check out their site, as well as the sites to which they have provided links.
Many feel that our time and money are better spent in concentrating on the problems right here on Earth, rather than what might or might not be out in space. And I agree that our home planet has a multitude of problems that deserve our attention. But the long-term goal remains the same: we must prepare ourselves to leave this beautiful world and find others to inhabit. And, as the folks at LUF have shown, it is possible to work toward that ultimate goal while providing many solutions to our problems here.
If we ever hope to continue as a species, beyond the few generations that most humans are capable of thinking about, we have no greater responsibility, no more pressing problem, than that of populating the stars.
I wish us all luck.
