I want to go to Mars. Not me personally, although I can't imagine turning down the chance if it was offered, but I want to see humans land on Mars.

When I was born, man had walked on the moon. We were going back. By the time I had my earliest memories (age four, playing with my friend on the golf course while the whole neighborhood was out looking for us), we were never going back.

As I grew up, I always heard people say things like, "We can send a man to the moon, but we can't brew a decent cup of coffee." Even in 1979 that was untrue. We can't send a man to the moon. Even today, over thirty years later, we can barely get beyond our planet's atmosphere.

It's 2001. We're supposed to have flying cars. We're all supposed to be wearing metallic jumpsuits. I should be able to take my wife to the O'Neill station at one of the LaGrange points for a weekend vacation. Hell, I can't even board a 45-minute Seattle-Tokyo ballistic flight.

"Going to Mars is harder than we thought!" Bah. We went to the Moon and back on computers that weren't as powerful as the device I'm typing on.

"But people are starving on Earth, we should spend money on that instead!" Like hell. Governments have been trying for over six thousand years of recorded history to feed all the people and make life wonderful (or at least not totally horrible) for all. There never has been a utopian moment where the planet didn't have to worry about a lower class. If we wait until we solve all of society's ills, we'll never get off this rock.

Do you realize the race to the moon was indirectly responsible for all the great gadgets we have today? That and wars. Research and development in the military theater and the space programs have resulted in everything from microwaves to the artificial heart to the teflon that makes your eggs not stick to your frying pans. The insulation in your home that keeps your heating bills down. The ability to fly from New York to Los Angeles without making 14 stops along the way. The computer you're reading this on.

We have to go to Mars. If we don't, we'll never leave this planet. Human civilization will only thrive on this small speck of a world. Eventually, the sun will increase to a red giant and engulf the planet. Everyone and everything you've ever read about, everyone and everything that will follow you: gone. We have to go or we'll die.

-Faux Pas