Author's note: This short story is my interpretation of the scene in
the First Season episode "Infection", where the ISN reporter asked
Commander Sinclair in her interview if Humanity should have gone into
Space, in either having space stations or in traveling between worlds. All
familiar characters belong to J. Michael Straczynski (JMS), Warner Bros.,
and Babylonian Productions; and they are used without permission. Betaed
by Joan the
Vampire Slayer.
Commander Sinclair's thoughts are shown in italics, outside quotes are shown in bold.
"We come into the world and take our chances
fate is just the weight of circumstances
that's the way that lady luck dances
Roll the bones ..."
Why do we not listen to the best advice that were given to us? Why is it that when we were given a chance to better our lives - we throw it away? Why is humanity like that? When humanity goes into space, what would other races, the more advanced races, think of humanity? What is the best thing humanity has to offer to the universe? What is the greatest accomplishment humanity has achieved in humanity's history?
These questions can't be answered by our own definitions because we don't see ourselves the same way others see us. Humanity is young to compared to the billions of years that the universe has been around. Our little galaxy, the Milky Way, is just a small speck to compare to the greatness in the infinite span of the universe that we were born into.
While I sit here analyzing humanity, I have noticed how humans had evolved. First, the beginning, when humans started life as a gelatinous goo - which is like when a child is being conceived in the mother's womb, without any conscience thought of what is happening to them . . . which is just a twinkle in the parent's eye.
Over the years, as humanity grows up, we learn to walk, to talk and all those good things that comes from evolution, as we learn to build communities in towns, and then large cities. It was hard at first, it took centuries to get humanity to the stage of being a toddler.
We began to see our solar system as something that is bigger than we are. In essence, we began to be aware of our surroundings, like how a young child begins in being aware of their immediate surroundings of their own homes and starts to recognize their familiars as part their own family and relatives. We saw other planets in our solar system - with help of Galileo . . . that was our first step. It wasn't until centuries later that JFK who started the space program in the late 1950's - which gave us a chance of exploration. A chance to see what our life is all about ...
Like any child which is taking their first step, we began to learn - and learn we did. We learned about ourselves and began to be curious about what's beyond our little universe. Exploration is the first step that we take in coming out from being a toddler. A line that I remember that was made famous by Kirk of the starship 'Enterprise' - " To Boldly Go Where No One Has Gone Before." Well, that is true for every new knowledge we get. We DO boldly go where no one has gone before when someone creates some new invention in helping humanity go further into space . . . like the space shuttle - started in the 1950's, and the space station 'MIR' started 40 years later.
Some may ask - "Why do we have to go into space anyway? Why can't we just pay attention to our own needs here at home?" The simple reason that I can think of is - " If we don't go into space and our sun goes out, we will lose the best of our own history - some our great philosophers like Socrates, Aristotle and Plato will be forgotten. Our famous plays by William Shakespeare will not be around for future generations, and some of our most famous song writers like Bach, Beethoven, and Chopan will just fade away. We will be like as we didn't exist in this universe without anyone to remember what we have accompished or what our greatest moments, in our lives, were."
After several minutes, Sinclair's thoughts were the same: 'Yes, it is worth it for humans to be in space.' He walked over to the door and left quietly.
End.
Commander Sinclair's thoughts are shown in italics, outside quotes are shown in bold.
fate is just the weight of circumstances
that's the way that lady luck dances
Roll the bones ..."
-- Rush: Roll the Bones
Standing alone in C&C looking out through the viewing window, Commander Sinclair's mind contemplated on the questions that the ISN reporter had asked him. The subject was something that had an importance not only to himself, but to the many others that felt the same way… or the same way as the reporter. His thoughts wandered to what it meant to Humanity to enter outwards into Space.Why do we not listen to the best advice that were given to us? Why is it that when we were given a chance to better our lives - we throw it away? Why is humanity like that? When humanity goes into space, what would other races, the more advanced races, think of humanity? What is the best thing humanity has to offer to the universe? What is the greatest accomplishment humanity has achieved in humanity's history?
These questions can't be answered by our own definitions because we don't see ourselves the same way others see us. Humanity is young to compared to the billions of years that the universe has been around. Our little galaxy, the Milky Way, is just a small speck to compare to the greatness in the infinite span of the universe that we were born into.
While I sit here analyzing humanity, I have noticed how humans had evolved. First, the beginning, when humans started life as a gelatinous goo - which is like when a child is being conceived in the mother's womb, without any conscience thought of what is happening to them . . . which is just a twinkle in the parent's eye.
Over the years, as humanity grows up, we learn to walk, to talk and all those good things that comes from evolution, as we learn to build communities in towns, and then large cities. It was hard at first, it took centuries to get humanity to the stage of being a toddler.
We began to see our solar system as something that is bigger than we are. In essence, we began to be aware of our surroundings, like how a young child begins in being aware of their immediate surroundings of their own homes and starts to recognize their familiars as part their own family and relatives. We saw other planets in our solar system - with help of Galileo . . . that was our first step. It wasn't until centuries later that JFK who started the space program in the late 1950's - which gave us a chance of exploration. A chance to see what our life is all about ...
Like any child which is taking their first step, we began to learn - and learn we did. We learned about ourselves and began to be curious about what's beyond our little universe. Exploration is the first step that we take in coming out from being a toddler. A line that I remember that was made famous by Kirk of the starship 'Enterprise' - " To Boldly Go Where No One Has Gone Before." Well, that is true for every new knowledge we get. We DO boldly go where no one has gone before when someone creates some new invention in helping humanity go further into space . . . like the space shuttle - started in the 1950's, and the space station 'MIR' started 40 years later.
Some may ask - "Why do we have to go into space anyway? Why can't we just pay attention to our own needs here at home?" The simple reason that I can think of is - " If we don't go into space and our sun goes out, we will lose the best of our own history - some our great philosophers like Socrates, Aristotle and Plato will be forgotten. Our famous plays by William Shakespeare will not be around for future generations, and some of our most famous song writers like Bach, Beethoven, and Chopan will just fade away. We will be like as we didn't exist in this universe without anyone to remember what we have accompished or what our greatest moments, in our lives, were."
After several minutes, Sinclair's thoughts were the same: 'Yes, it is worth it for humans to be in space.' He walked over to the door and left quietly.
End.