I write on this blog about reaching new plateaus. The Dutch company Mars One wants to take humanity to new planets.
I wrote a couple months ago about this extraordinary mission which I believe has the power to change the world. The whole process of choosing the astronauts, training them, the flight, and then life on the Red Planet will be televised. Suddenly practically everyone in the world will have something in common with everyone else as we’ll all tune in. You could ask a random dude from Australia about it and strike up a conversation. I can’t imagine a better way to bring the planet together than to give all of us a common focus outside of ourselves. Ethnicity and borders mean nothing in interplanetary travel.
Because of all this, the ones chosen to go on this journey will be celebrated more than any celebrity in history. The interesting part is that anyone can apply. As long as your are 18 and can pony up $38, you can put your hat in the ring to be an astronaut, pioneer, and celebrity all in one. You’ll have competition, though. Tens of thousands have already applied.
Click here to do so OR to just check out some of the videos of other applicants.
Just remember what they say: once you go Mars, you’ll never go back.
Seriously. There’s no return flight back.
This makes the videos all the more interesting because those starring in them are individuals unlike most. They are both extraordinarily adventurous AND detached enough from the usual attractions of life: trying new foods, falling in love, raising kids, going to movies, sporting events, and concerts, attending religious activities, travelling the globe, etc., etc., etc.
Some of the candidates–not surprisingly–are characters, those who you might expect are a little anti-social and perhaps without a lot of personal ties to Earth:
Others, though, are surprisingly personable, and it’s these folks who really make me think. To see someone like them advocate for the chance to leave Earth and never return confuses me–to the point where it actually troubles me a little. How can you just leave all this behind…forever?
For me, it would take never-before-attained courage to go on this mission. I’d cry before the departure saying goodbye to everyone. Just as significant, I’d probably shake philosophical trembles as the world as I knew it would be altered not just literally but by way of an adjusted perspective on what I deemed as truth and the meaning of life.
I wouldn’t have the guts. My hats off to those who do.
-Brandon
