"We choose to go to 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, and the others, too."
John F Kennedy
As we stand and face the future today, the State of India seems rudderless. It is said, "If you do not know where you are going, any road will take you there". The nation seems bereft of governance and direction. Youth of India are protesting against corruption but do they actually know what they are fighting for? If it is to support Anna Hazare in his right to fast, what after that? Progress is a vector quantity and movement should not be mistaken as a substitute for that. Chaos cannot be a substitute for inept governance. The brains of India, safely ensconced in their ivory towers are silent. While we know the view point of Congress on Lok Pal or Jan Lok Pal (which precisely amounts to nothing because there is no view except for parroting that Parliament is Supreme) what do the opposition parties say about Lok Pal? Except for some informed views the bulk of the political class is equally clueless as the citizens as to what the fuss is all about. The debate is increasingly becoming divisive and the more the noise that is made the more is the obfuscation. Can all this random energy be channelised? I think it is possible.
We need a moonshot. A goal that can energise the nation just like what President JFK did. A nation shocked by the the progress of Soviet Union was put on a path of unprecedented scientific advancement by the vision of one man. To those who are interested, I am pasting the link to that famous speech of one of the greatest leaders we will ever see.
http://www.jfklibrary.org/Research/Ready-Reference/JFK-Speeches/Special-Message-to-the-Congress-on-Urgent-National-Needs-May-25-1961.aspx
What can be that moon shot?
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