As Jacob Cote suggests in his column on Wednesday, February 5 (“The John Galt Line: From the swamp to the stars”) perhaps we should have a president and a nation more passionate about expanding the astounding abilities we have to discover the glories of the celestial expanse. But with much respect and admiration for those astronauts, and the same to the Cote’s own appreciation of and support for them and for the continued expansion of humankind’s horizons, his reflection on the current state of Star Tours (my words, not his) provoked a different thought: perhaps we should not forget that as we continue our “long climb from the swamp to the stars,” not all is not well in the swamp.

Perhaps the “homeless found frozen to death” should not be memorialized along the ranks with the dedicated, self-sacrificing astronauts from the Columbia, as Cote suggests (although his emphasis is, of course, on the astronauts deserving of commemoration, not some sort of condemnation of the homeless). But maybe, instead, the homeless could be afforded the opportunity to witness humankind’s continued journeys into space as the rest of us do–in a home, somewhere in the most affluent nation on the face of the Swamp. (Or, Earth, rather.) This is not even to mention the state of homelessness, poverty, disease or violence throughout the world. It is just interesting to note that the leading nation in yet another aspect of the modern world has still to contend with such fundamental predicaments. I am not suggesting that this quest to journey far from our home is a truth-laden metaphor for escaping the problems found on the street, for example, every day. But it makes for an interesting thought; a thought that is on my mind as I wonder what my role–or ours, if you will–is in regard to the millions who continue to sink into the swamp.

Jesse M Horner 617.922.0729 COM ’03