Cuba 1962 and Ukraine 2022

I was in my last year of High School during the Cuban Missile Crisis when John Kennedy was President of the United States and Nikita Khrushchev was the leader of the Soviet Union. For 13 days the world stood still somewhat until Nikita Khrushchev offered to remove the Russian missiles in exchange for the U.S. promising not to invade Cuba. A naval blockade had been put in place around Cuba by the United States. Russia had installed nuclear-armed Soviet missiles in Cuba. It was a gradual awakening for all of us in the world as the two mighty powers United States and the Soviet Union put the world first. When I think of Nikita Khrushchev I saw a strong man looking at all his people and deciding that they deserved more than they had and that was the beginning of a slow roll towards peace and friendly relations between those two countries and the rest of us just followed along. It was a slow march forward for all the world and we are in a different place now. Nikita Khrushchev will always be remembered. His partial memoirs were published in 1970. He died in 1971 of a heart attack following his retirement. He had received as part of his pension on retirement an apartment in Moscow and a dacha in the countryside. He was 77 years old and had served his country as Chairman of the Council of Ministers from 1956 to 1964.

Squabbling on earth may not be the best use of our time. Eventually we will get noticed in the Universe; we have stations/unmanned objects out there. If Homo sapiens can arise on this planet then humanoid type life can also arise on other planets in the Universe and they may be ahead of us in space travel. We need to work together to protect the planet; not, as Russia is currently doing, rip apart a country with bombs. Some may come in peace but there is a need for the world to always be prepared for war (and not with each other) so that peace can be assured.

On the other hand Homo sapiens has made it this far. How much more can Homo sapiens do as the world grows older and wiser. We can get to Mars perhaps even outside of our Solar System. The United Nations is the place to argue points not the battlefield.