09 Oct It’s Necessary

Have you seen Interstellar? Have you listened to the music of the tale? The story is a dystopian one, where humanity is closing in on extinction as food sources are running low. The atmosphere is dire, and the weather is in constant turmoil. Farmers are the heroes of this tale as they strive to continue to harvest food, and produce for all humanity. It is also a world where efforts to go to space, or previous ones are long gone, and non-existant.

Life seems hard for the young, as to be born is to potentially die shortly after considering the conditions of the earth. It is interesting how climate change, and the protests going on in the world are everywhere, with cries to their governments to do something. Greta Thurnberg is marching on and spelling doom to those that do not listen. I am not a fan of fear as a motivator to make change, but I understand where she is coming from. It is interesting how free speech is something that is championed around as somethng to be proud of, and to encourage, yet to have an opinion against the oil and gas sector in this province is essentially spelling death for your credibility, as it carries such a large amount of support. To speak against it is to be shunned and shamed. However, I am not here to discuss climate change, but a story between a father and his daughter.

In Interstellar, the main character, Cooper, finds NASA (which is operating in secret because of the public opinion of space travel) and an old mentor, Dr. Brandt. Turns out Cooper was a pilot for NASA at some point, and has been in space. Dr. Brandt needs a pilot for a very dangerous mission; to venture into a wormhole on Saturn, to venture into the unknown, to another galaxy. The reason for this is to find a habitable planet for humanity to grow onto. The plan is then to eject the station that NASA resides in to said planet with as many people as they can house, and continue from there. They do have a plan B. It is to colonize the fertilized eggs that are housed in the ship they are in, on the most habitable planet they find, leaving everyone on earth to die. For the greater good as it were. A utilitarian point of view.

Their journey is met with disaster as they lose crew, are betrayed, and the ship itself breaks apart. All seems hopeless, but Cooper holds onto his survival instinct, which is the love for his daughter, and seeing her again. There is a line in the movie that gave me goosebumps. TARS, a robot says to cooper as they try to bring the vessel they are on into contact with their spinning space station after an incident. “That’s impossibe” TARS says, which Cooper responds “No. It’s necessary.” Not impossible, but necessary. Spoken bravely, and are encouraging words to us all.

Dr. Mann, a astronaut sent on the Lazarus missions earlier in the film, speaks of Cooper’s survival instinct, which is his children. An emotion that we have long questioned our whole existence, I think, is that of love. I am now reminded of side head bobs and Night at the Roxbury. Anyway, with all the scientific data, empirical evidence, and research done in the film, the one thing that isn’t explained is love. Amelia Brandt, Dr. Brandt’s daughter, speaks of it as something that cannot be measured, yet it transcends time and space. Even with the tesseract scene, you can chalk it up to love, and view it as a man with all the love he has for his daughter, being the only thing and reason to forming such a thing. Transcending time and space.

Cooper has a great line which I also found encouraging:

“We’ve always defined ourselves by the ability to overcome the impossible. And we count these moments. These moments when we dare to aim higher, to break up barriers, to reach for the stars, to make the unknown known. We count these moments as our proudest achievements. But we lost all that. Or perhaps we’ve just forgotten that we are still pioneers. And we’ve barely begun. And that our greatest accomplishments cannot be behind us, because our destiny lies above us.”

Our eyes can be covered, they can be blinded by many things. We can be held in a cage in our minds, or lock doors around us, to not seek or pursue what we truly desire.

Not impossible, but necessary.

Muhammed Ali said something similar:

“Impossible is a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they’ve been given then to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact. It’s an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It’s a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing.”

What do we want? What do we strive for? Perhaps we are happy where we are, perhaps we are exactly on the right path. But to not strive forth, to not explore the unexplored in our minds, that is what spells death. To try and fail, or not to try at all. They say it is better to love and lost then to never of loved at all. And to not regret the things you’ve done, only the things you haven’t done. Aye, tis a learning experience for us all, but more importantly, a reminder for us as we continue forth in our journey of helping those around us.