Who Owns The Moon?

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Saw this title of an article today and couldn’t remember where I saw it, so naturally I had to Goggle it and found a bunch of articles with the same title.

They were all talking about the space race to the moon continuing to private entrepreneurs who will provide travel for ordinary people to the moon. One line I liked is “If we pee on it first, does it mark out claim?”

But the title struck me differently. “Who Owns The Moon?”

We, as a species, work to earn money to go out shopping, especially this time of year. We wander about looking at merchandise comparing colors, features and even prices. Our goal is to give away some of our money for items. Perhaps these items will be shared with others or even given away as presents. Some of these items are for self-gratification or perceived value.

So stop and look around you. The computer you read this on, the bottle drink sitting next to you, the soft plush chair you sit on, the jacket hanging on the door, the large screen television in the corner, the entertainment center blaring more invitations for spend more money are all yours. They declare who you are. You OWN them.

But do you really?

First there is an industry out there manufacturing hundred or thousands of more items just like them for hundreds of thousands more individual for feel complete just like you.

Second the items that make you feel so good today are already obsolete and must be replaced with the newer model.

Third and possibly the most important is does obtaining these objects do you really own them.

Sure they sit in your house on your plot of land in your presence but one day each and every one of these items will be passed down to another family member or given away to charity or even placed in a heap of leftovers and forgotten.

As a culture or a society we have learned it is better not to share but to own.

Wars have been fought for greed of land and wealth and thousands if not millions have given their lives to own something or fight to keep what they own away from others.

We even owned people in our not too distant past.

So who should own the moon?

And just like that, we recognize in our surroundings the freedoms of life like air, wind, sky, and possibly on a warm summer night relaxing under a tree, a sleepy dog at your feet and the love of your life cuddled in your arms looking up, even the moon.