Capturing a Moment in Time

Forty years ago today, man first orbited the moon. It seemed an impossible scenario to fathom just ten years prior to that day but as we are now in the first decade of the 21st Century, it is hard to believe that we are already another decade closer to having accomplished this feat. The flight of Apollo 11 was one that will be remembered for many things but I think one of the most poignant reminders of that day was what the crew of Apollo 8 did as they rounded the dark side of the moon and came to see the Earth rising in the far distance. They crew; William Anders, Jim Lovell and Frank Borman, had previously decided to read from the Book of Genesis as part of their Christmas Eve broadcast from space back to the people of Earth.

It was a simple reading meant to highlight the solmenity of the occasion and in reading from the Book of Genesis I think the crew intended to remind all of us that we all come from the same place and are seemingly among the only ones in this vast space. If one looks at the image it is like a reverse of what we see all the time on Earth. Instead of the moon we're seeing the Earth rising in the distance. Now there are those who counter and argue that this image 'looks wrong' or that the entire mission was faked as were the other missions to the moon and for whatever reason they choose, they ignore the fact that if this was done for simple PR reasons, it was so well thought out that it probably would have taken decades more preparation to fake it to that level.

Which is why I know that it wasn't faked. There are lots of reasons for why missions to the moon may want to be faked but there's no reason that I can think of behind the reading from the Book of Genesis by three men who were among the first to realize just how small our planet is in the vastness of space. Here on Earth we see maps or images of the Earth all the time. We see grid lines and state lines and borders and roads. We haven't got the ability to pull back far enough to realize that we are actually not as divided as we choose to make ourselves. Perhaps it's a picture perfect illusion that is attempted to be portrayed in this image or in the sentiment that we are all one people, but it isn't a bad one.

If you don't believe in religion then maybe you would have been offended by the sentiment expressed by the crew of Apollo 8 or at the fact that the implication being made was that God created all of this and that it was 'proof' of His existance. I don't think that was the point at all. At the time the world was being torn apart by wars and riots. For those back on Earth it must have seemed like the end of all days and borders and differences were probably all that was on people's minds. But that wasn't the case. That wasn't what was the truth. And now even after 40 years of bringing this fact to life and illustrating it so beautifully, we have forgotten it again. Again our world is being torn into factions of religion, of borders and of disputes older than time. But in taking a moment and looking at this image I'm again reminded that the world isn't a divided place. It's one world. Our world.