On September 12, 1962 John F. Kennedy gave his speech at Rice University on why the United States was prioritizing its goal of putting a man on the moon above other goals. This new aspiration of vital importance came within the period of time known as the Space Race which was another bitter match-up between the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold War era. During this sour period, anti-communist values were still prominent on America's home front as the nation desperately fought to contain it abroad. As the Space Race tensions grew, the 35th president of the United States gave a speech on the topic in question at one of Texas' most selective schools.
Now, this article isn't necessarily a history lesson on the Space Race or JFK's moon speech, but instead on why I find it to be so inspiring. As a high school sophomore, a history class required that we prepare and present a PowerPoint on any topic during the time frame of which we were studying. I chose JFK's New Frontier, which is ultimately where I was introduced to his moon speech at Rice University. As a generally confused fifteen-year-old, I never gave his speech much thought, but as the years passed, I began to recognize it's importance in my life.
"We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too." ~ John F. Kennedy at Rice University (1962)
Over the years, I've come to terms with the fact that my life has been unquestionably difficult and unreasonably riddled with obstacles that no child should ever have to deal with. But from this struggle, I learned to work hard and put forth the effort to achieve what I wanted out of life. Outside problems interfered with my progress in school, yet I maintained decent grades. I began to take higher level classes that tested my will to succeed and I desired to be better than who I was yesterday. Balancing personal life problems with schoolwork at times became overbearing and exhausting, leading me to question why I had to deal with such a large weight on my back when it seemed as though everyone else had a much clearer path. There have been nights where I dropped to both knees to ask God "Why me?"
However, it is during these moments that I remind myself of John F. Kennedy's words on that September day in 1962. During these times of struggle and fear, I remind myself of why I handle these issues with grace. I remind myself that I choose to take on tasks I don't have to (meanwhile mentally kicking myself for doing so), because I understand that the only way to better myself is to be challenged.
Particularly recently, I've been mentally coaching myself to settle for less because I don't think I'd be able to handle the big life I've set out for. Deep down I know it's wrong but life is so scary and uncertain that settling for the easy life seems safe. It's a mental battle that I'm sure everyone goes through at some point in their life and I encourage you to remember these words: "We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard..."
Everyone has rough days where giving up seems like the best option--and it's certainly the easiest. But as you enter these phases of your life, remind yourself of why you are chasing your dreams in the first place. Remind yourself of why you took on that challenging load to begin with. We don't choose to do things because they are easy. That's not how we improve. The only way we become stronger is with some resistance from life. It certainly sucks and it rocks us to the core, but it's how we grow. We all have our "moon" that we want to reach.
Setting out to achieve our goals is difficult but if we put our minds to it and believe in the challenge, it will certainly be worth it.
