Pappa Hardy's Musings on Life.

Today was one of those days when I sat at a window and looked out the window and was transformed into a figure that didn’t do much. I was transformed by the sight of America gliding away underneath me. It was beautiful, seen from 35,000 feet. What a beautiful country we have. Mountains, swamps, snow, plains, cloud banks, and cities were laid out before me. I was moved to tears to see the great land of ours. Oh Beautiful For Spacious Skies and Amber Waves of Grain.

Several weeks ago the debt rating of the United States, once considered to be the standard by which all other nations were measured, was decreased from AAA to AA+ by Standard and Poors, one of the debt rating institutions in the United States. This action took place after months of partisan bickering had taken place which resulted at the 11th hour, in a compromise by the House, Senate, and White House on raising the debt ceiling of the United States Government.

Republican right wing Senators and Congressman, often called Tea Party members, were sure that unless we passed a constitutional amendment calling for a balanced budget, that we should allow the debt of the United States to go into default. Likewise, Liberal Democrats called these “Tea Party Members” extremists who had hijacked the heart and soul of the Republican party and who were going to put the elderly, the poor, and the sick out on the streets without any means of support.

Can I say that all of this partisanship is going to be the downfall of our government! The founders of this nation had hoped that the government of this nation would get above the petty bickering, posturing, and the desire to rule over our fellow man. Well, it lasted all but a few months in the history of this nation, and it has just become worse and worse in recent 20 or 30 years.

I have been fascinated my whole life by the history of an individual who promised to deliver the people of a foreign nation from all of their problems. I have been fascinated by the willingness of the people and their representatives to give up their freedoms for safety and stability. That leader was Adolf Hitler, who promised the German people that he would solve their economic problems in the Great Depression. He would put people back to work. He would restore national pride. He would right national wrongs. He would rebuild their military and take back parts of the county that was rightfully the property of the German people. He delivered on his promises, and also delivered World War II with its 50 million in war dead. He delivered the horrors of the Holocaust and the loss of life of 6-9 million Jews. Could it happen in the United States? I fear that it could.

Where is my heart? My heart is in a nation where those who represent the people actually care about and represent the people. Their first priority is the health and well being of this nation, not their own personal aggrandizement and lining their pockets at the expense of the tax payers. Their first priority is in making our government work, not in being right and the other side wrong. Their first priority is ensuring the fiscal well being of this nation. Their first priority is making sure that the government serves the people, and not the other way around. Their first priority is strengthening the form of government we have, not making the government stronger and more intrusive. There is a difference.

I have lived in a nation that was once considered the preeminent nation of the face of the earth, the model by which many other nations measured themselves. We have squandered our legacy as a nation, and our representatives have forgotten why they were elected. Where is my heart? I hope my heart is residing in a country that can overcome our problems and restore our greatness and honor.

A recent letter to the editor sent to “The Economist” in response to an editorial in the July 2nd issue of that magazine:

Editor

I thought I had found an unbiased well thought out magazine that reported the news. I have eagerly waited each week for my new addition of the “The Economist”. That was the case that is until I received the most recent issue with the Caption on front, “The End of the Space Age”. I eagerly turned to the lead article, only to find it to be one of the most biased and condescending pieces I have ever read.

The constant referring to “Space Cadets” as a way to classify anyone who has interest in human space exploration told me where this writer was. Such condescension in my opinion does not belong in any magazine that would purport to be professional. Marginalizing your readers or someone who might believe in the exploration of space for other than economic means I believe is below the purpose of being for this magazine. It should be anyway. By marginalizing your readers, you will also lose them. You have lost me. I was ready to re-up my subscription. Now, I have been reading your articles not certain that bias hasn’t stuck it’s ugly head into the articles I have been reading. Thank you for waking me up to your lack of professionalism.

Exploring space is much more than the economics. It is much more than what makes a TV program exciting. It is much more than how much it costs of our resources, our time, and our being. Frankly, one of the most important reasons for going is that we are diversifying our risk. Must business people who are into investing their resources for the future understand that concept. Robert Heinlien once said something to the affect that we should never leave all of our eggs in one basket. If we don’t push out and explore and learn how to live elsewhere, we are allowing all of our eggs to be broken. Someone should have told the dinosaurs that they should have invested in diversifying their risk. A promising race of reptiles didn’t live past a piece of space junk that crashed into the Yucatan peninsula and exterminated most of those animals 65 million years ago and caused mass extinction.

We are a fragile race of beings, living on one world together. As the Apollo astronauts witnessed, we are on a dot in space. We need to make sure that dot doesn’t get erased and the human race that lives here is not extinguished. I am sorry that you believe that the ISS is a waste of money. I am sorry that exploration of the moon, and then maybe later Mars seems like a colossal waste of money on the dreams of your “Space Cadets”. I am so sorry that you are excited that this waste of money seems to be ending with the end of the Space Shuttle, and the end of the “Space Age”. I am sorry that you lack imagination.

Mike Hardy
Payson, Utah-Not on the Space Coast

This morning I watched as the Space Shuttle Atlantis was launched on what will be the 135th and final launch of a space shuttle from the United States. What a pity. It was a site I will never forget, and I have watched each one of those 135 with the same feeling of apprehension about the success of the mission. This is particularly true since the launch of Challenge on that cold January morning in 1986

I had come home from work at lunch to watch the launch of Challenger. This flight carried the first teacher in space, and I wanted to be on that shuttle. I watched mesmerized as the shuttle pitched and rolled, saying to myself, I wish I were there. In front of my eyes, the shuttle disintegrated and 7 lives were lost. Despite that loss, had they asked for volunteers to get on the next one to go the next morning, I would have been first in line. I wanted to be part of that exploration. Something happened on the way through life and I didn’t make it to this point, but I have been enraptured with what we have done.

You may ask why? Well, man must explorer. We must do the impossible. We must push the limits of the environment out. As Robert Heinlien has said, the human race cannot allow all of its apples to remain the same basket. We live in a hostile universe. We must diversify the risk. We need to make space safer to get to, but we will always lose people. That is what exploration has been about since this nation was forged. It is what has happened as long as man has been aware and wanted to see what was on the other side of the hill.

We are wasting an incredible resource, at least until we can find another way to access space for human beings. We are allowing our access to be controlled by the Russians. Mark my words; we will live to regret such a state of affairs. Whether it is a lack of will in the government, or just plain laziness on our part, we must change. We must regain that energy which has marked who we are as a nation.

Good by old friend. Good bye Space Shuttle. We could have made you safer. We needed you until we can find a better way.

One of the blessings of the technological age is the availability of just great music. I have an IPOD, and I can instantly tune into my entire music collection. I am constantly adding to my collection of great music. Music speaks to my soul. It brings back such great memories, communicates to my thinking on such a fundamental level. I believe that is one of the blessings of being alive is to communicate with each other, and this is one great way to do so.

Music identifies us on generational level. It can also help us bridge the gap between the generations. Great music is great music. Some of the best of it is Classical music, but rock music speaks to me as much as The Moldau and the New World Symphony. I love to celebrate music.

Well, serving in Public Office is an interesting experience. It takes a mind shift away from what you personally want to see done, to making sure that you are working for the public good of everyone that you represent. This makes the choices difficult because sometimes there are lots of gray areas and no clear cut directions that should be taken. For instance, if you approve a certain type of development for an area, how is that going to impact the city and it’s citizens in 10-15 years, not just tomorrow.

Everyone of course has ideas about the right way to do things as well, and you quickly learn that you can’t always vote the way someone else suggests that you vote. It takes separating your desire to be liked from the public good. Everyone at some time or the other should have this opportunity.

I have never really been a fan of black Friday. For some reason I just don’t get a thrill of getting in the hunt for a bargain at 3am in the morning. I know that some people love that, but I am not one of them. I would much rather sleep in until my normal 5am get up time.

Unfortunately, I am the type of Christmas shopper that ends up not getting Christmas done until Christmas Eve. Somewhere, there must be a happy medium. I am unfortunately not it.

I love Thanksgiving. I always have, and I always will. The thing I love the most is family. This is a wonderful family day and I have lots of family memories that I cherish. In this year of trial, I pray for a special blessing on my families, all of America’s families, and the families of the world. We are all one big family and need to start getting along with each other.

There are days when life is tough, when things have become such a challenge that you wonder if you can handle it any more. It is on those kind of days that you hope for a safe port, a place where you can go and have all the hurts taken care of and the concern washed away.

For me, that was the Old Homestead, a house on 97 Dixie Street where my parents lived. I could go there, sit amongst familiar walls and know that I was home and that I would be taken care of. There are places like that for all of us. I am grateful for parents who made a home for me that gave me a place of refuge where I could be loved and taken care of.

Today, as I fought a freeway of ice and danger, I longed for the old homestead. I longed to be able to go there and have the fear of the unknown taken away and my feelings and concerns soothed and blown away. I longed for a simpler time when mom and dad would take care of it all. I longed for the Old Homestead.

I hadn’t really posted about what has been happening in Payson, but back in July I filed to run for the Payson City Council. A lot happened along the way, but on November 3 I was elected to the council, finishing second out of four that ran. Now, I am in the process of transitioning onto the council. There, is so much to learn and so much to do. There is just a lot of work. What have I got myself into. We shall find out.