Recently, I read an interesting article about Mars One where people could volunteer to go on a one-way trip to the Planet Mars. The program will supposedly be ready to launch by 2024, although I seriously doubt a private company could finance all the technology needed in order to make a successful trip to Mars by that time. People by the hundreds volunteered to make the trip and now it’s being whittled down to just a few. I was thinking that might just determine the biggest idiots on this planet but when I sit down to either watch or read the news I begin to think that they just might be the smartest people instead.

I was always interested in outer space and even my teachers told me I was good at taking up space in school. I remember watching Sputnik, the very first manmade satellite placed in orbit by the Soviet Union. At the same time one of my brothers had a radio tuned so we could hear it beep as it traveled high overhead. Then he bought a powerful telescope with which one could really explore the heavens above, which was something I enjoyed doing and still enjoy doing to this very day. Then came the race to moon, Skylab and ultimately the International Space Station itself, which I enjoy watching on the NASA television channel.

But my reasons for leaving this planet are not even close to the ideals that those astronauts and cosmonauts have. What I fear the most is watching not only our nation but many others as well slowly fall apart piece by piece. In our country politics and politicians have become nothing more than political pollution at best or political dividers at the very worst. I don’t care whether it’s gun control, abortion rights or illegal immigrants, our nation has become so split by personal and party differences that I doubt that there is any short-term solution. If I were a young person about to make a decision as to what I would do for work I certainly wouldn’t choose law enforcement and I certainly don’t blame those who chose that career but I do blame the news media the most.

When I look at the chaos in the Middle East and many of the nations that were part of the Soviet Union, the problems are so great that they affect the whole planet. Europe is being overwhelmed by illegal immigrants sneaking in from Syria, Afghanistan, Romania and other nations as well. Europe has enough problems, especially financial ones, that even the European Union has no answers to date. Unfortunately, hundreds if not thousands of those leaving their homeland for Europe are dying while attempting that treacherous journey. They are beaten, robbed and even raped while they attempt to reach a better place. It is sad to state that there are those people who feed off of the misery of others.

There was the so-called Arab Spring where several nations led by dictators like Muammar Gaddafi were removed only to be replaced by chaos and terrorists like ISIS or ISIL or whatever they call themselves. So the situations in Syria, Iraq, Yemen and only God knows where else have deteriorated significantly. Our president called the terrorists Junior Varsity and yet they are spreading terror in one form or another around the planet. North and South Korea have been trading artillery and rockets although it’s quiet for now. India and Pakistan, two countries with nuclear weapons, are once again having military skirmishes on their border.

And what I find the saddest thing of all is that we have a president negotiating with terrorist nations like Iran and Cuba, although I feel that it’s a one-way deal with nothing in it for the United States.

While all of this is happening the United States is not strengthening our military, we are actually making it smaller in the name of technology. It’s sad to say that many nations are now manufacturing advanced weapons systems to sell.

Lane Hiltunen of Windham wonders what’s so great about Mars. Venus sounds better.