How’s it going? Are you hanging in there? I’m hanging in here.
I’m Gloria Moraga; this is One-On-One. Please talk to each other. No matter what. Don’t let anything stop you from talking to your loved ones. Put your political feelings aside and talk about other stuff. There are lots of other things to talk about. Food. Books. Love. Music. Movies.
Maybe don’t talk about COVID.
We are marking a tragically horrific milestone in the United States: 500,000 people in the US will die from complications related to COVID19.
I am lucky.
I got my first vaccine shot two weeks ago, my second shot this coming week.
I was given the Pfizer vaccine.
It was the luck of the draw.
“Pfizer is 98.8 percent effective against the deadly virus.”
I will continue to wear my mask.
I will continue to distance.
I’m not taking chances.
I want to live.
And I believe in Science. In surviving. In “hanging in there.” Perseverance.
The word of the day: Perseverance.
The definition is this, “The act or the power of continuing to do or achieve something despite difficulties, failure, or opposition. The action or condition or an instance of persevering: STEADFASTNESS.”
Or, as I said at the beginning of this episode, “Hanging in there.”
No matter where you live, right now is an excellent time to persevere.
Honestly, aren’t you just sick of this damn pandemic, of all the stress, unemployment, poverty, homelessness, global warming?
I’m anxious.
I’m down.
It is depressing and difficult to get through every fricking day.
So, I’m doing what I can do to look up. Literally.
And that brings us to the other Perseverance.
The Mar Rover is called Perseverance.
Wow! What a great accomplishment. Yes. Other robots have landed on Mars before. But not like this.
According to NASA, the “Insight Mars lander” touched down on the Red Planet in 2018. And “Curiosity” landed in 2012.
But “Perseverance” is the largest, most advanced rover NASA has sent to another world. It traveled 293 million miles (472 million km) – over 203 days – to get to Mars.
This is what @NASAPerseverance Tweeted at 12:55PM, FEB. 18, 2021
“I’m safe on Mars. Perseverance will get you anywhere.”
https://www.nasa.gov/perseverance
Perseverance successfully set down in Jezero Crater, just north of Mars’ equator.
Perseverance was named by a 14-year-old from Virginia.
The space robot broke through Mars’ atmosphere going about 12,100 mph.
As it approached its landing target, it deployed its massive 70-foot parachute. Then it slowed to just 2 miles per hour for a gentle touchdown.
I was 17 years old when on July 20, 1969, Apollo 11 landed on the Moon. And Neil Armstrong took “One step for man and one giant step for ManKind.”
Do you know how much trouble the U.S. space program has endured in the last 50 years? Budget cuts, defunding, and criticism that the Race for Space is a big waste of time, money, and energy. But our space program has persevered. It has survived. And Now this high-tech robot is sending photos from Mars.
In 2013, the Obama administration cut NASA’s planetary-sciences budget by 20 percent. But the program survives.
Thanks to the private funding.
Who knows what we are going to learn now. All because we persevered. We didn’t give up.
How are you feeling? About Work. Life. Relationships. Life is difficult. It’s easy to want to give up, to despair, to stay in bed all day. Or drink too much. Or do drugs.
You have bullies at work? Do you deal with racism? And hate? Are people rude to you? I’m dealing with a huge number of rude people these days. People are scared.
I was listening to the radio. A professor of African American studies said the Capitol’s Insurrection happened because people are sick of being on Covid lockdown, and people are afraid.
Yes. We are afraid. But we don’t respond by breaking the law. What do we do? If we are strong, we persevere.
I’m Gloria Moraga. Please be safe. Share my podcast. I need listeners. I will be posting the text of this episode with links on my website, gloriamoraga.com.
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