This is for Eglaeh and the Blasko kids. So perk up, and get to readin’!
The motorcycle ride today brought us to White Sands National Monument/Missile Range in New Mexico. This is where the firs ever Atomic Bomb was set off in the Trinity Nuclear test. Which were conducted under the guidance of scientific director J. Robert Oppenheimer. (Ummm, I’m remembering most of this from memory, so if this is off, correct me. Also, feel free to look it up kids.)
I grew up reading lots of comic books as a kid, and one of the ones I liked was Iron Man, although Tony Stark was actually based on Howard Hughes (another misunderstood genius who did lots, was super bright and super cool. If you saw the movie The Aviator, you know who I’m talking about. Although I highly suggest you read the biography the movie was based on, sooooo good!). I like to view J. Robert Oppenheimer as another doppelganger/metaphorical mirror for Iron Man.
After the first atomic bomb tests here at White Sands, the US killed many (millions?) of Japanese by detonating two of these bombs over/on Japan, decimating entire cities, people, and a bit of their culture. (I got a chance to see this first-hand when I visited Tokyo. Specifically Tokyo’s Asakusa neighborhood a few years ago.) This changed the world forever, and also changed J. Robert Oppenheimer.
So here’s where the comparison to Iron Man comes in to play. If you guys saw the first Iron Man movie, you see that Tony Stark goes from: dude who creates the weapons, to dude who wants to get rid of the weapons and save humanity from themselves. This is the same conundrum Oppenheimer went through. The dude was torn. He’d created something bad-ass, crazy, innovative, which helped end World War II, but also was super destructive. And although he was proud of his accomplishments, the dude was beside himself, and pained from his role in the creation of the atomic bomb. Although he attempted to work backwards and try to contain the “nuclear fall-out” of his actions, he was ostracized, stripped of his top secret credentials, and no longer allowed to work with/for the US government. (Just like Jebediah tried to do to Iron Man near the end of the movie.) In fact, they even labeled Oppenheimer a Communist and anti-American. They even had a big public trial, so everyone knew what a traitor he seemingly was. Bummer deal? What do you guys think?
Anyway, it was cool to be at this site in New Mexico. Where so much of this atomic bomb creation stuff went down. And just being here you see so much beauty in nature, but everything that occurred here, also gets you thinking: about consequences, political, diplomatic, global corporate intentions, all that stuff that gets intertwined with everyday life, and what it all means to just you, one person. And whether you should, or shouldn’t get involved. Whether that means getting involved in being a scientist and creating something new and innovative, like an atomic bomb or a new form of energy/producing engery, or be some sort of activist like Greenpeace or those Whale Wars people. …also, there was a lot of radiation released around here a long time ago, and got me thinking about the half-life of the plutonium and uranium they used, hmmmm… maybe I can get a cool X-Man power by the time I get to New York.
Other than that, the ride here was great. The weather was really hot, which was a great change from the day before. Look up some stuff on the above if you feel like it. Or feel free to chat with me about it, I’ll talk your ear off for hours! haha. In the meantime, here’s some pictures below.
—ish.
