May 19 2009
Looking Farther (28) – Rare Experiences
Could you imagine making a walk in space?! Using a wrench in zero gravity?! And with a view like that! [photo thanks to NASA]
I wonder if what makes an experience valuable is, in part, the uniqueness. I once rode a seat suspended over snow-covered ground one mile and 3000+ feet upward in a blizzard. Then I got off an slid all the way down to join my family again using a pair of fat, slippery sticks attached to my boots.
Yah, I skied a big mountain in a blizzard. Big deal? No. Largely because it is not rare. Countless thousands of others have done it and will. But man, what an experience.
If a $100 ticket and a few hundred bucks worth of equipment could get you onto the International Space Station — how valued an experience would that be?
Disney World, done it. Paris in springtime, done it . . . If anyone can do it, how precious is it?
Social values influence our experiences. Sometimes that’s a good thing. But if you can’t get excited about taking a chair lift to the top of a mountain in a blizzard, I’m not sure how much how deep your appreciation of a trip into “outer” space would be.
