To Boldly Go or Boldly Give?...

My kind of space travel.
Button Moon

Besides the Euros and the Olympics, the floods and the heat, there's been another news story skirting the edge of my peripheral vision this month. Richard Branson and Jeff Bezos have been to space. Individually. For a short time. And fair play to them, I guess. Like Gandhi (may have) once said, 'Be the change you want to see in the world.' Clearly for Bezos'n'Branson, the change they want to see is every billionaire being launched into the sky for a bit. And why not? Once you've paid your bills and had some nice holidays, what else are you going to do with your money? Might as well dabble in space exploration if that's your thing. Sounds reasonable, right?

Well obviously not. I mean, I'm approximately the 936th person to point out that there are approximately nine hundred and thirty six more pressing areas that could do with spare cash. Climate change, starving kids, homelessness, curing cancer, the NHS, the criminal justice system, paying tax... I could go on but I know you get it. It's not rocket science. But they persisted. And I've really struggled to work out why.

I've never had to consider my opinion about space travel before. I wasn't born when it was exciting and new. And I have vivid memories from thirty-five years ago of the grim newsflash announcing the Challenger explosion. I suppose I've always assumed, had I been around in 1969, I'd have been caught up in the frenzy along with everyone else. Indeed, when I watched The Dish - the sweet tale of an Australian town's pride at housing the satellite that sent the pictures of the moonwalk around the world - I was caught up in the buzz of the whole shebang. I think, in the right circumstances, I could possibly be convinced that boldly going is admirable and for the benefit of humankind. 

Sam Seaborn - the fictional speech writer from TV's The West Wing - makes a decent argument in Season 2. When Mallory, his girlfriend, bemoans the money that's being spent on a probe to Mars, the following exchange takes place.

Taken from The West Wing Transcripts.

If we take the worrying 'colonising' tone out of Sam's sentiment, maybe he has a point? Perhaps spending vast sums of money to personally experience space is noble and worthy. At the very least, simply human nature. Perhaps it's the same as the kid who spends his pocket money on a fair ground ride. He has nothing to show for it afterwards, but for five minutes, he's had the time of his life and experienced something amazing. 

Look, who am I to judge? No one, right? So I'll try not to. Even though all that space money could have fixed something fundamental on this planet, I'm going to avoid being annoyed and bitter about rich men pissing away their money. To help me avoid that, the best thing to do is find joy in the opposing behaviour. Long time readers will know how much I love Marcus Rashford. His extra-curricular activity of feeding hungry kids is so admirable. But he isn't alone in using his platform and money for good. Ladies, gentleman, and those who don't adhere to the gender binary, I give you... Dolly Parton.

Look, I couldn't be less arsed about the amount of money people have compared to each other, so I've no idea who tops the rich lists and who's further down the ranks. But let's take it for granted that Dolly's earned quite a bit over the years. And I'm sure that's meant she's had a lovely life. I think it's fair to say she likes a bit of cosmetic surgery, which won't be cheap. But beyond that, she's done some cracking things for the good of others.

Firstly, she sends books to kids. That's it in a nutshell. She ensures children have access to books from an early age. Dolly Parton's Imagination Library is the best kind of charity I can think of. As her website explains... 

'Inspired by her father’s inability to read and write Dolly started her Imagination Library in 1995 for the children within her home county. Today, her program spans five countries and gifts over 1 million free books each month to children around the world.'

How marvellous. I literally love that as a charitable idea. But there's more. For example, in 2017 she gave $3M to support residents and businesses affected by the wildfires in Tennessee. Just because. She saw a problem and could send some cash to help. Then in 2020, the development of the Moderna COVID vaccine was aided by her $1M donation to the effort. How fab to have spare money knocking about and to give it away to help others. I'm a big fan of that sort of thing.

It reminds me of another episode from The West Wing. As the entire show winds to a close and the fictional administration are packing up and moving on, Chief of Staff, CJ Cregg takes a meeting about a potential new job. A character we're led to believe to be a 'Bill Gates type' - i.e a famous rich dude - offers CJ the opportunity to spend his money doing something good of her choosing. He opens his pitch with, 'I'm starting a foundation 'cause if I hold onto all this money, I start to look impolite' What an amazing offer. Take my money and fix a problem. I love it. 

Me. Not judging.

I'm still not judging the recent spate of space cowboys. Instead I'm ignoring them. I'm limiting the money I spend on their businesses, and looking for the people that have got it right. Once you've paid your bills and had some nice holidays, what else are you going to do with your money, right? Well, if I may, I've a couple of other suggestions. 

The Book Trust is a UK charity that provides books for children and their families. I'm not Dolly Parton - no, I know, it's a shock for me too - but they get a couple of quid from me every month because I reckon that even in the most difficult of circumstances, a good book can make things seem a little bit better. 

Alternatively, FareShare is the UK charity supported by Marcus Rashford that works to eradicate food waste and hunger. Defo worth a quid or two if you've got it spare.

I suppose the point of this ramble is multi-faceted. I CBA with space travel, I really miss The West Wing, and I'd rather be a Dolly or a Marcus, than a Jeff or a Richard. But hey, I'm not judging anyone. No way. Not here.

Have a lovely week, folks.