I believe in a better tomorrow today. Back in the 50’s and 60’s magazines were filled with slogans saying “The World of Tomorrow” and “What the Future Shall Hold.” Each detailed all the wondrous creations mankind would one day bring: flying cars, jetpacks, robot assistants, laser guns, and much, much more. But now I see none of those possibilities come to fruition. And why is that?

Simple. America has lost its idealistic initiative. Once we had landed on the moon that was it. Game over. All that drive for a goal that had once seemed impossible simply vanished overnight once we had obtained it. Sure, we played with the notion for a little longer, but the initial satisfaction could no longer quench our hunger. Once we had obtained what is thought of to be one of the greatest accomplishments of mankind’s history, nothing else could taste sweeter. Nothing else could make those possibilities for unlimited groundbreaking futures feasibly possible. That is why when the years rolled by, the future would become bleak in the world of tomorrow happening today.

What I want are those possibilities for the technologically advanced society that exists right over the horizon to become less impossible. I want to see the flying cars overhead, like a flock of birds sailing through the air. They’d dip and dive amongst the clouds, an affordable vehicle almost anyone could buy. Finally I’d be able to live out the dream of flying whenever I wanted to without expensive plane tickets or the boredom of going through a flight. Alongside the idea of flying cars are jetpacks, making that possibility more real and exhilarating. I can imagine it now, flying through the air, flight obtained at last in the hands of man so that we may conquer the skies even more so.

But why stop there? We could have entire cities dotting the skies, our new home above the surface of the earth. Colonies on the moon could become the next big step, a dream many a NASA astronaut would hope someday to become true. Mars would be the next thing to strive for, and from there who knows what else we could do. We could completely terraform the surface of Mars to turn it into a second Earth, for instance. For Earth itself we could overcome many of our own challenges plaguing our society. Curing diseases such as cancer, creating robotic limbs for those who need them, designing machines that could rid the planet of pollution, and even more! The possibilities are endless! All we need to do is focus on them.

When I see an old ad from the 50’s proclaiming walking robot butlers or flying cars, I don’t see it as silly notions of an era that didn’t know any better. I see it as wisdom and aspirations of an age that has nearly been lost today. Instead of bemoaning the fact we’ll never achieve these distant possibilities, we should be striving to make them happen, to prove the people of yesterday right that the days of tomorrow are an actual possibility. All we need to do is work hard and make it an achievement that could happen today.