There is a Chinese proverb that you may have encountered that goes: May you live in interesting times. It’s open for interpretation, so maybe it implies ” interesting” as being something fascinating or inspirational. Or tumultuous, even dangerous. Perhaps it’s a curse. One variation of the proverb is “Better to be a dog in times of peace than a human in times of chaos”. Depending on your age or what generation into which generat you were born, the proverb may hit home as an “ugh” or a shrug of the shoulders. Maybe some can even smile when reading it.

At this point in time of all the times in which one may have been born, it would now likely be met with that “ugh” rather than an “ahhh”. Maybe even in some brief interludes of ooooohhh.

Life has its peaks and valleys waiting on all of us. Current living and breathing occupants of planet Earth very likely have–by the time of puberty or earlier–noticed those occasional peaks and regrettble valleys marking our timelines. At this moment, I would say we are most certainly living in a mostly chaotic, dangerous and tragically all too often, deadly of times. Even if you have a dog, that dog is not living in a time of peace. We humans, clearly a belligerent, bellicose and badass species have made thing things pretty precarious for all life on Earth. Each day, many dread checking the news, skittish now given the documented carnage and killing of mostly innocent civilians–many very young children–in a viscious cyncial cycle of “ceasefire” and concurrent deadly bombings. How can so few create such a precarious world for so very many of whom simply want to get along, live their lives, have a roof over their heads, food, education and healthcare granted as a human right? Why so much hate?

But here we are. Tensions are rising. The word “unhinged” is peppered in recent reportings of the here and now. Why cannot we all just get along? With kudos to Rodney King for that exasperated plea for peace, love and understanding a few decades ago.

However, a very recent “interesting” event just occured. It seems to, at least for a brief moment or two, serve as an antedote to the antipathy that virtually envelopes the world right now. That being the Artemis II mission to the moon and back. This NASA redux undertaking was big news when it launced on April 1. It ended yesterday, April 10. For some who remember the Appollo missions that cumulatively had 12 men walking on the moon starting in 1969, this return to shooting for the moon was somewhat a shrug of the shoulders or a “hmmmm” kind of reaction. After all, the four astronauts are going to and around the moon, not stopping to get off the capsule and bring more rocks back home.

That initial “deja vu all over again” (kudos to Yogi Berra for that expression), reaction about moon missions way back when or shrug of the shoulders for some, sudddenly became a very much feel good event. Of course we don’t want the astronauts to not survive the mission, but beyond that it became a truly feel good love story–of all things! A love story authored literally on-the-fly, 248, 655 miles from home. That is, they named a crater on the moon after one of the crew’s deceased wife, Carroll. Immediately, it invoked for many (mostly women of various ages) the expression “love you to the moon and back”. Now it was literal! Heart stings tugged at big time! Tears of joy. Perhaps even tears of envy.

Whatever other implications of the US resuming moon missions might come to mind–the cost, for sure, when so many people around the world struggle to survive economically–having that crater naming take many a mind off the chaotic and deadly world those four star sailors were going to return to was a surprising reminder that maybe, just maybe, love can conquer all. No one saw that part of the mission coming. Love is, and always will be (at least in theory) the answser. Right?

All current evidence here on Earth to the contrary.