Wish upon the Moon

This past weekend, Andrew and I went to the Cornerhouse, a great multi-media space in Manchester, to see the documentary film, In the Shadow of the Moon. The movie uses past TV and film footage, along with present day interviews, to follow the history of the NASA Apollo Space Program. At one point, after the completion of Apollo 11, the first manned lunar landing, we saw news clippings of people from around the world cheering, jubilant at how "we" - humankind collectively - had successfully walked on the moon. At that moment I thought, how wonderful it would be if the U.S. could be a unifying force in the world, a place that connected everyone. After all, it does feel like everyone around the globe has someone, a relative or friend, who lives in, or has passed through the States. What if the U.S. was a scientific and intellectual hub, where people came to study, learn and share, and sometimes ended up staying? What if being an American also meant being knowledgeable about the whole world, understanding its politics and ecology, speaking its language. I thought about the United States as a conduit - of good - for the world. Can we go there?