We

I heard the phrase “we made it to Pluto” in regards to the New Horizon mission reaching the faraway (dwarf) planet. The word “we” made me stop and think. It is not “we” = NASA, it’s not “we” = Americans, it is “we” = humanity. That’s pretty awesome, this goes up there with other accomplishments that are too big for someone, some group, some nation to claim. There aren’t too many things like that (good or bad – “we” did WWII too), events that define history, that get to use that word to mean everyone, all humans. The “we” that represents the pinnacle of our accomplishment as a species or as a planet (considering “we” are the product of a lot of events on this planet before humanity existed). Mr. Tombaugh was there (his ashes were aboard the mission to Pluto), but unfortunately no longer living to witness our arrival at this other world as we are lucky enough to do.