Hello all,
This week was a commemoration of 11 million lives lost in the Holocaust - 6 million of these were Jews, including - we suspect, my grandmother's sisters and their families. Or perhaps they were never sent to any work or death camps but simply pushed aside and perished in another way as marginalized people do in war. So we mourn the lives that were taken and we strive to prevent more losses. We honor the heroes and the righteous who misdirected, resisted, and sheltered. Without them there might have been no one left.
And as we know it is still happening now. We have not been successful in achieving an end to hatred and war. Nonetheless, we need to keep trying. That is the message of the Holocaust commemorations. That we all need to be vigilant and protect those we see getting pushed aside and blamed for woes not of their making. That we need to speak out when we see injustice. To believe in the dignity and beauty of each life.
And this same week, we are celebrating the extraordinary mission and safe return of the Artemis II, with all her crew safely back on earth. With the teams of engineers and scientists and programmers and artists and dreamers that made it happen. The crew...talented, educated, experienced, driven, humble, kind, and diverse. The mission will give us science and art to study and learn from for years. And we must be careful with what we learn, and what we do with all that information.
For technology folks and space nerds alike—it was amazing. And it was a symbol of diversity and alliances, of genders, backgrounds, and nationalities, the way space exploration has often been. Yes it's been a competitive race—and also a cooperative venture. In answer to the horrors of the Holocaust, that hatred and dehumanizing to the point of systematic deliberate plans for total elimination of a people, we have Artemis II.
All the best,
Holly
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