Stop the Beast

Space, to this day, remains a mystery to us. We, the omnipotent beasts on Earth, have succeeded in sending only a few of our kind to poison what surrounds our planet with waste, to strip others’ lands—assuming others exist—the way we have stripped ours, to extend our hands to others and make them our slaves, our animals, to, as we like to call it, “explore”—and we want this number to increase. We mask this greed with the notion of advancement to prevent the most conscious of our kind from interfering with us or to persuade them to extol space exploration as a symbol of success. Blinded by our thirst to rise above all creatures and by our call to fulfil Manifest Destiny, we ignore the detrimental effect we will have on space’s environment or how devastating these expeditions will be on our already-empty wallets.
Earth used to be beautiful: green fields stretched over infinite miles, daisies and roses and lilies blossomed everywhere, and thousands of animals roamed the land. Today, factories and industrial machinery and piles of waste inhabit every corner of that once-beautiful planet—all thanks to us. We have succeeded in polluting Earth, stripping the land of its natural beauty and leaving behind barren acres of...nothing (Source B). Our houses inhibit the growth of any form of life—other than us, of course; our space shuttles and rockets greedily usurp the homes of all animals, and we reside above it all, controlling every aspect of our master plan the way a child controls the characters in his video games.
But still, we remain unsatisfied, and it will be that way until we expand our presence to every inch of the solar system (Source E). We strive to take over space and use it to benefit our kind, but we are not responsible e...

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...illion in taxes, $126 billion of which will be spent on the category space explorations falls in (Chantrill). This money belonged to the taxpayers, so it should be used for something that will benefit all, such as health care. Instead, taxpayers are forced to give away their hard-earned money to fulfil the dreams of the greedy beasts (Source H) while they, between their hospital bills and college tuitions, are struggling to put a meal on the table.
Space exploration is a selfish luxury we cannot afford until we diminish our problems on Earth; we have to prioritize. We cannot invade other planets and destroy it the way we have destroyed ours. We must tame the beasts inside us before it is too late.

Works Cited

Chantrill, Chrsitopher. “Estimated Government Revenue for FY2014.” U.S Government Revenue. 2014. usgovernmentrevenue.com. Web. 25 Mar. 2014. Medium: Web.