THE WORLD AS WE DON’T SEE IT

It’s a matter of perspective

“We choose to go to the moon... We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard.”

With those famous words of former US president from over half a century ago, we should welcome the new year, the last of this decade—the perfect opportunity for the resolutions that we have put off for years, even maybe for our lifetime—not because they are easy, but because they are hard. We look to world changing resolutions that will leave a mark on what this decade will be known for, in generations to come.

The 1960s, for all the conflict and turmoil, has gone down in history as the decade of the Space Race. The world was consumed by the Cold War, internal struggles within countries, and assassinations of activists fighting for change and against discrimination, like that of American civil rights activist

King John Martin Luther Jr’s.

But if we had to look back and point to a silver lining, we see a time when we were doing the incredible, the unthinkable, the practically impossible through space exploration—doing otherworldly feats, literally. This 2019, it will be 50 years since NASA’s Apollo 11 mission landed on the moon, with

and walking on the lunar surface. And while we often consider the Space Race between East and West, Armstrong talked of “a giant leap for mankind” as a whole. With television bringing the world together

Armstrong F. Kennedy Buzz Aldrin Neil

in ways previously impossible, it was indeed a moment “for mankind.”

A few months before that, on Christmas Eve, and of Apollo 8 became the first human beings to orbit the moon. Families and friends around the world gathered in homes to celebrate the holiday season. These men were the furthest away from their houses than anybody else, but in a way were also closer to home. When they returned with technological and scientific knowledge gathered from their voyage, they also brought back a roll of film that included the iconic Earthrise photograph.

Imagine everything on this world. Doesn’t it seem so vast and so large that people on the other side of the globe are so, so far? Yet, in Earthrise, our blue marble floats peacefully in an expanse of black space, everything on this world fitting in one single photograph. If there is intelligent life on other planets, Earthrise shows us how they would see us. And, I wonder, if they existed, what they would think. Would they think about all the different spots on the Earth, separated by blue, or would they just think about this one, single world? Sometimes it takes an outsider, or at least a look from the outside, to get a clear picture.

Nowadays, it takes mere hours on a plane to get to the other side of the world. Centuries ago, it took months, even years, sailing a ship on the ocean. Before that, nobody dared to go beyond their own waters, thinking they would

Lovell, Frank Borman, Jim Bill Anders

fall off the edge of the earth. For all the advancements we have made in making our world seem much smaller, we have somehow found a way to make people feel further apart—even within a country, separate worlds for men and women, haves and have nots, invisible societal constructions.

In a Christmas message posted on Space.com this year, Bill Anders wrote about his experience and the significance of Apollo 8 and the Earthrise photo he took:

“We set out to explore the moon and instead discovered the Earth. Fifty years later, Earthrise—the lingering imprint of our mission—stands sentinel. It still reminds us that distance and borders and division are merely a matter of perspective.”

Like the 1960s, this decade is on the course of going down in history as just another one filled with conflict and turmoil, internal struggles within countries, assassinations of people fighting for change, including, just this year, one of Time Magazine’s Persons of the Year, journalist

Jamal Khashoggi.

So, what is your resolution for the New Year, the last year of the decade? What do we want this decade’s mark to be?

We already have a hint of what our legacy may be. Fifty years ago, in 1968, the Apollo 8 astronauts were named Time Magazine’s Persons of the Year for their successful mission and for paving the way for future space explorations and everything else it represents. Now, for the past couple of years, Time Magazine has recognized groups of people who are standing up and speaking out, from those involved in the Me Too movement, dubbed “The Silence Breakers” in 2017, to journalists seeking to expose the truth despite persecution, dubbed “The Guardians” in 2018—including the Philippines’ own

Maria Ressa.

The Apollo 8 astronauts let us see the earth as it really is through Earthrise. This may be the decade when we push ourselves to make the world feel the way it looks, without the invisible divisions and borders we have created between countries and within our own societies. We have gone to the moon, now let us do the other things. It will not be easy. In fact, it will be hard, which is why we should do it.

Like Commander of the Apollo 8 mission 50 years ago on Christmas Eve, in his live broadcast from the lunar orbit, I sign off with a line from the Book of Genesis, the book of the beginning arguably appropriate for the New Year: “And God called the dry land earth … And God saw that it was good.”

I look forward to 2019, optimistic at the opportunities it holds to bring the world closer, with the resolution to try and take each and every opportunity I may encounter.

Borman