19 Jul Video: The space to dream. The space to imagine. The space to believe.

Space & Parenting

This is a transcript of a H.I.T presentation done on July 17, 2021.  HIT talks showcase Hope, Inspiration and Transformation. Each event hosts eight speakers from across the globe and across all time zones who each speak for eight minutes.

Today I would like to talk to you about … S P A C E.

Space travel firsts

1. First steps on the Moon

I was a little girl the first time I got fascinated with space.

I remember it clearly. My father interrupted us in the middle of our game. “You’ve GOT to see this,” he said. “It is a historic moment.” Adults and kids were all gathered around our one little TV set. I recall sitting cross-legged on the grey carpet in the room with the avocado green upholstery.

He turned the knob.

And there – in the middle of Africa – a  black and white signal sputtered. And I watched the grainy transmission as Neil Armstrong – clad in a huge plastic suit with a giant fishbowl for a helmet – stepped onto the surface of the moon.

“One small step for man, One giant leap for mankind,” he said.

That was it. Like millions of other little kids my age, scattered across the globe, my love affair with the heavens had begun.

2. Space Shuttle Columbia

The next time was just over a decade later. This time, we had recently moved into our family home in the UK and we were all in the middle of painting walls and weeding gardens. Once again, he stopped all of us and gathered us around our colour TV screen with its three channels. “This is an important moment,” he said, as we gathered to watch the first space shuttle Columbia take off.

3. Virgin Galactic

And so, I felt I was channelling my Dad this past weekend when I gathered my still sleepy kids here in Canada and we all watched as Virgin Galactic went sub-orbital. Once again, we were marking a significant moment in our relationship with the cosmos.

Space and Science Fiction

Ever since I have been old enough, I have grown up on this steady diet of space and science fiction: Star Trek and Star Wars. The Jetsons. And (my favourite) Doctor Who.

When we embrace science fiction,
we dance between the limits of our intelligence,
the boundaries of physics,
the elasticity of time.

We play — with possibility.

A parent’s passion can propel and inspire

My Dad had a wonderful enthusiasm about him when he encouraged us to share in these major feats of human accomplishment. And I got to wonder if it was in part his passion that inspires me and makes me a futurist who focuses on the Future of Work.

As parents, we walk a tight rope with our children – between protecting and propelling.

My father may have given me a love for space.

But he actually did so much more. He created … space.

He created the space for me to believe – that anything is possible. And as a parent that is so powerful.

Today, as adults we look at the world and we wonder – what will my kids do, how will they live? But we come boxed in with our experiences, our stories, our failures.

The bigger gift we can offer our next generation is space:

• the space to dream
• the space to imagine
• the space to believe

Inspired to do more, together

The longer I think about it, the more I am convinced that the thrum I felt deep in my soul when I was first introduced to the concepts of strategy and futurism came in part because of my father’s faith in our human ability to make MAJOR change.

It was fifty years later – as an adult – when I realized that it was brilliant minds working alongside each other with only the most basic technology that got those first rockets into space and those men onto the moon.

As I discovered the tools of futurism I lived more and more in a world of Maybes and What Ifs.

It is the possibility that things – could – BE.
And that they could be … different.

Is it big I Impossible?

It is said that the difference between the word Impossible and I’m possible is minuscule. It is an apostrophe … and the S-P-A-C-E … to breathe between the words.

That is what we offer our children. It is in THAT space that hope lies. And we are going to need a serious dose of that enthusiasm and hope.

Climate Action

I am very committed to empowering the next generations.

They are very clued in to what is going on around them. Almost from kindergarten, they are engaged with climate change. They know it is a huge global issue – one that all of us are going to have to rally around and solve.

We need our kids to know that they are up to the task.
And that we have full faith that supported by like-minded souls across all age groups, we can embrace this challenge.

Can we learn anything from space tourism?

So I won’t lie. I am passionate about space. I was simultaneously conflicted and elated watching Richard Branson and his fellow passengers go zero-gravity. I question whether we should embrace space tourism while facing all the other problems that still exist down here on Earth.

Sirisha Bandla at zero-gravity Virgin Galactic maiden flight (courtesy Virgin Galactic)

But there are elements about this mission that also motivate me:

1. First, seeing a normal member of society – a person who is 70 years old – excited and physically able to go into space inspires me to continue to live a vibrant life without boundaries and restrictions as I continue to age.
2. Second, Richard Branson was a dyslexic child. He was able to create this organization from nothing because his parents believed in him. That has to be a message of hope and possibility for so many families out there.
3. Third, the project took ten years longer to get off the ground than they had originally forecast. In a world of instant gratification, it is important for the rest of us to see that. All major projects take time. They will have their share of setbacks and doubts. But as Branson said: “To the next generation of dreamers if we can do this, just imagine what you can do.”

We can create climate action – together

“not because it is easy, but because it is hard”

What I see right now is a world that is under threat. We are going to have to pull together. But it is within our capabilities.
We need to communicate squarely that this will not be easy. But as a race, we are up for the challenge.

JFK understood this. As he said in 1962 when he announced why our mission was to land on the moon –

“We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things,
not because they are easy, but because they are hard,
because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills,
because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win“

The children of today are indeed our leaders of tomorrow. The time has once again come for all of us to embrace that different kind of possible. We can inspire young and old to live with possibility and imagination and to fight for our precious planet Earth.

TOGETHER, we can do this!
And that is something I truly believe is possible.

#MakeTakeTalk is our Call To Action

What is within your possibility? As a parent, an educator, an employer or a coach, you have the opportunity to be an influencer.

Make:  Make your own difference. What seed of possibility will you sow when you share your passions?
Take:  Take the time to work with Generation Z and the generations that follow. They will be navigating a new path without a map. Offer them a compass.
Talk:  Share your thoughts on topics and concerns that inspire you. Be vocal within your family and your community.

CREDIT & THANKS; DEFINITIONS & RESOURCES:

• HIT-talks – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rx6Rnti4ddc
• JFK speech was given at Rice University Texas on September 12, 1962, available with the transcript from the JFK library
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virgin_Galactic
• TILT the Future – my podcast discusses how little ideas, small shifts and minute moments can result in monumental changes in our lives https://karenadesouza.com/blog/
• Find a version of this thought for today article on LinkedIn and Instagram
• Photo, audio & video credits:
  • Photo of Sirisha Bandla achieving zero-gravity courtesy Virgin Galactic
  • Karena de Souza using Canva