What if the USA and USSR established a combined research colony on the Moon in 1972?
Earth remains tense, with multiple US-Soviet conflicts, proxy wars across Asia and Africa, and people at each other’s throats. But from the Moon, it all looks different. The planet as a small disc, spinning, made the entire thing look different, and now, I regularly spend time with the Soviet counterparts at District 9 Space Colony.
District 9 was created eight years ago, in 1972, by the USA and Soviet Russia to ease tensions. It is inhabited for nine months, from April to December, thus the name ‘District 9.’ There are around sixteen astronauts and cosmonauts on the station for most of the year. I was first deployed to the space station in 1975, and for the first two months, I felt hatred between my Soviet Counterparts and me. But now, the sixteen of us have become a family. I still remember the day when my perspective of the World Changed: June 1st, 1975.
I was looking at the Earth from the Moon. It was my birthday, and I wanted to spend it with my wife and children on Earth. A Russian man walked towards me and slapped me on the back, “So today is your birthday?” he asked, with a heavy Russian accent.
“Get away from me, Communist Scumbag!” I yelled.
“Woah! You need to relax, man! A spoken word is not a sparrow. Once it flies out, you can’t catch it.” He said.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“Look, I used to have the same mentality as you, but look at the blue ball in the sky,” He said, “A tiny, insignificant speck. You live in a city, just one speck on that dot. In that city, you are just a speck. You are tiny. So why have such enmity? World leaders don’t think like this, so we have such violence on Earth, but why should you think the same way?”
“Well, that is true, but….” I replied, thinking of a counterargument, but none came to mind. “You are right, friend,” I said.
The truth is, we are all just a speck. Life is short, so why do we have such rivalries- these are all irrelevant.
