Dang, July has lots of famous stuff we can reminisce about and some of them apply to life today. For example le quatorze Juillet is certainly important to you if you’re French. While that infamous day the famous Bastille Prison only had some 7 prisoners, the crowds were joined by the Regiment of French Guards and took over the building which led the way to the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (Déclaration des Droits de l’Homme et du Citoyen).
We landed on the moon July 20th 1969 with some 600 million people around the world watching live. Now take that moonshot and apply it to any number of challenges facing us today: Grid dysfunction in our American electrical system; pollution of our air and water; shortages of water – up close and personal here in Colorado; and, we can go with that Apollo landing as proof that not only can we do anything as humans. If 600 million watched in awe then – some 57 years ago – how many would rejoice in a successful moonshot today benefiting humankind here on earth?
The first atomic bomb test – Trinity (July 16, 1945) – may be ignominious at best. That July was the dawning of the nuclear age and 7 power reactors plus 11 test reactor have been announced in the past 24 months with fusion on the list with nails being bent at tokamak in Devens, Massachusetts, (I love that name TOKOMAK – a Russian acronym for toroidal chamber with magnetic coils).
And I’d be remiss not to acknowledge the Battle of Gettysburg giving birth to: “Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.”
Yes friends, we have much to think about in July as we all should turn up our thermostats; drink plenty of water; wear sunscreen; and, look ahead to a better future.