“May you live in interesting times” – Attributed to an old Chinese curse.
There is no greater space than Space itself. Here on Earth there may be no greater expanse than the Atlantic Ocean. Yet this month it was reported that both Space and the Atlantic Ocean experienced crashes. If we didn't know any better we may think the reports were a joke.
In Space, some five hundred miles above mother earth, a collision of space satellites took place. It was reported that an old forgotten Russian military satellite, weighing a ton, and a U.S. Iridium commercial satellite, weighting 1,235 pounds smashed into each other. NASA claimed this as a first high speed impact of two man-made spacecrafts. Russian Mission Control Chief, Vladimir Solovyov said, “The cloud of debris poses a serious danger.” The debris can last up to 10,000 years. The fragments can cause great danger to any spacecraft that gets hit by it.
It is one thing to be uncaring about space debris when there is no danger. However, now there is a danger so I ask why there is no concern on a world level? After all, this fiasco can cause major damage to the space exploration and discovery.
Can it be that space will need a global traffic control system to track current and old discarded space vehicles, and debris?
How big does Space have to be to avert crashes? It seems that Space is not big enough to hold all the spacecraft at one time. Yes, that is incredulous but factually true.
In the Atlantic Ocean two submarines crashed into each other. The French nuclear submarine Le Triomphant is armed with sixteen M 45 missiles capable of launching nuclear warheads. It crashed into the British sub called HMS Vanguard. The British sub is powered by uranium fuel. It has capabilities of firing sixteen Trident II D 5 missiles carrying nuclear warheads.
It’s a given that both submarines were armed at the time of collision. The UK Ministry of Defense’s First Sea Lord Admiral, Sir Jonathan Band said “Modern submarines are very very quiet. In many types of water conditions they may not hear the approach of another submarine.”
How in the world does he expect the public to accept that kind of lame excuse? Do you think for a moment that the high tech nuclear sonar armed sub doesn't know what is happening around them? What a preposterous and insulting excuse for the crash. The UK Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, CND, called the incident “A nuclear nightmare of the highest order.”
Yes indeed, we are living in interesting times. A lot is happening. With the financial nightmares emerging worldwide I would think that we should stop for a few moments and call attention to the citizens of the world. Look around you, in the Ocean, on Earth, and Space, besides the publicized miracle of a plane landing in the New York Hudson River without loss of life. We are blind to the miracles that take place in space and deep in the sea!
CND’s Kate Hudson said about the crash “The dents reportedly visible on the British sub show the boats were no more than a couple of second away from total catastrophe.” Imagine what horror would be if the nuclear subs had exploded.
In the above scenarios we find a common denominator. All the actions were man made.
The captains of the subs, the leaders of space discovery, the financial Wall Street wizards, the politicians are all responsible for what happens. We cannot blame God for the mishaps when man makes them. It is only through God’s grace that He doesn't allow the people to destroy His world. Man is given a chance to beautify the world and make God’s name known. On the other hand he can destroy the world and try to throw God out of this world.
Man needs to take responsibility for his actions. When man miscalculated the sub position it caused a lot of trouble. If man doesn't look out for flying spacecrafts he may cause crashes. The opportunity in the financial market shows us how man can bring complete disorder to the greatest super power, America.
Only when we feel responsible for our actions will things turn around.
Last, but not least, what is needed is not a money stimulus package but a moral stimulus package. For only then will we save ourselves from ourselves.
Rabbi Eli Hecht is vice–president of the Rabbinical Alliance of America and past–president of the Rabbinical Council of California. He is the director of Chabad of South Bay in Lomita, CA which houses a synagogue, day school, nursery school and chaplaincy programs.