Thursday, October 8, 2009

for they shall inherit the moon...

"It's official: we're bombing the moon" - my coworker Chepe

So I looked it up, and he's right. Scheduled to happen tomorrow - and why not? Crash something into the moon to see if we can find water. And who is this water for? Potential, future, moon-dwellers it seems. Now, I am fully aware that I am not a scientist, and probably don't even realize all of the ways that I benefit from technology developed, in part, by discoveries made by NASA.

But even so, even if that is the case, over the course of the last year, I have met plenty of people who don't even benefit from the luxury of clean water. Over the last year I've seen levels of people living in conditions I couldn't previously imagine. Those of you who have been reading for a while may remember my visit to the Acahualinca dump in Nicaragua. (see post: trash, Dec 2008). This breaking news brought a poem to mind; about the moon and the people of Acahualinca, Nicaragua. It's long, but an interesting commentary, so I'll post parts of it below.

Really? We can't figure out how to get water to all the people that need it here on Earth, but we can start bombing the moon to see if there might possibly be some for potential, future dwellers?


The Earth is a Satellite of the Moon


Apollo 2 cost more than Apollo 1

Apollo 1 cost plenty.


Apollo 3 cost more than Apollo 2

Apollo 2 cost more than Apollo 1

Apollo 1 cost plenty...


Apollo 8 cost a fortune, but no one minded

because the astronauts were Protestant

they read the bible from the moon

astounding and delighting every Christian

and on their return Pope Paul VI gave them his blessing.


Apollo 9 cost more than all these put together

including Apollo 1 which cost plenty.


The parents of the people of Acahualinca were less hungry than the children of the people there.

The parents died of hunger.

The people of the Acahualinca are less hungry than the children of the people there.

The children of the people of Acahualinca, because of hunger, are not born

they hunger to be born, only to die of hunger.


Blessed are the poor for they shall inherit the moon.

- Leonel Rugama

3 comments:

Dee said...

Miss Rebekah,
Again, you inspire me by reminding of the need of many people. Thank you. I don't much love to be called out of my complacency, but know how needed and good it is to be called out of self. Yes, thank you. Mom

tory said...

it makes me sick to my stomach to know how much NASA spends on things such as bombing the moon. Thanks for your words. Miss you

Korla said...

Rebekah, I LOVE that poem. Thank you for putting it up and reminding me of it.