dearMoon

My entry for the DearMoon prize, sponsored by Yusaku Maezawa.

In my soul, I am a writer. If I could change one mind with my vision, show one person the universe as I see it, and convince them that this vision is worth preserving for future generations, I would consider my life to be a success.

I believe strongly that our entire purpose should focus on one thing - survival. As living beings, we already have this instinct genetically encoded within us. But I believe we have begun to take our survival for granted in the last few centuries. While we fantasize about scenarios in which society crumbles in movies, we maintain comfort in our lifestyle, content enough to leave the problems it creates to scientists, governors, or future generations to solve.

As we live in a tiny oasis of a deserted universe, we imagine ourselves to be in an endless garden of pleasure.

I am less worried for our survival as a species than I am for the survival of our values. Humanity will survive in some form through the challenges that confront us, of that I am certain.

But as the difficulty of surpassing these challenges grows, we will begin to compromise on increasingly foundational values. Our respect for other forms of life is reducing. Our compassion for human families born in distant lands under unfortunate circumstances is reducing. As these values erode, so shall our society be reshaped.

I wish to provide a vision to humankind. A path that not only leads to survival, but one that continues to build a foundation that our children can live on stably. One that inspires them to build a foundation for their children, and for the children of others. It is in this path that true survival lies.

I am a nobody. But I believe that I can be a voice for millions of people like me. People who live lives that have little significance individually. People who raise a family, who work hard at a job we would not do if we could, who treasure time when it is given to us, and who sometimes look up at the stars and dream.

By taking part in dearMoon, I wish to provide this voice. Showing that the time we spend unwillingly can make our children’s world one of miracles and wonder. I wish to show that by working together, our individually insignificant lives can build monuments that preserve our memory for millennia. I will provide fuel to hope, and an argument for grace.

I wish to experience firsthand the feeling of viewing the world as it is - not as a group of different countries with made-up boundaries, but as one unique planet in the universe, where one slightly complicated monkey managed to reach out and touch the stars.

I am ready.