On Friday, April 13^th, 2029, a large asteroid dubbed “Apophis” is projected to pass within 18,300 miles of planet Earth.  Since the moon is 240,000 miles from our planetary home, it stands to reason that it, along with any number of satellites may suffer damage or destruction at that time.  While the impact of lunar or satellite destruction will undoubtedly be far-reaching, it pales in comparison to the devastation of a planetary strike by Apophis.  And yet, this is exactly what some in the scientific community project to occur just seven years later, eerily on the same date.

Now, the Russian space agency has indicated its intention to begin preparation to avert just such a disaster by constructing a spacecraft for a mission to Apophis to divert the giant asteroid.  In a statement last week, Russian space chief Anatoly Perminov indicated that his agency would meet in the near future to consider the mission and, when plans are finalized, would seek the cooperation and assistance of NASA, the European space agency, Chinese space agency, and others to participate in the project.

If this sounds like a variant on the plot of a movie you may have seen starring Bruce Willis, you’d be right:  how often life imitates art.  But, the stakes in such an endeavor are high.  Whether or not Apophis strikes the Earth, the odds of a major strike by one of the thousands of asteroids, comets, and other potential threats grows daily.

At this point in time, with due deference to the Russians, we are uncertain as to whether we have the technology or capability to avert such impending disaster.  Needless to say, it behooves mankind to pursue these aims.  But, whether or not, we develop the required capabilities, the prospect of impending doom should give us all pause to reflect on the nature of our lives on this planet.

The Earth is home to mankind in all of our diversity.  Cultures, races, religions, and nations are all indigenous to various parts of our globe.  Mankind’s history, however, is replete with violence, oppression, and war – race fighting against race, religion against religion, nation against nation.  It seems that people have always suspected and feared those who are unlike themselves.  And so, those of other faiths, areas, languages, and racial compositions have often been viewed as less human, intelligent, or valuable than others.  This perspective, of course, makes it much less reprehensible to brutalize or eliminate them.

The Holocaust perpetrated upon the Jews of Germany and Eastern Europe by Adolph Hitler and his Nazi Party is but one example of mass murder in the name of nationalism, community, or faith.  Throughout history, military victors have often inflicted needless, senseless death upon subjugated populations.  In pre-Christian times, conquerors often “doomed” captured cities, slaughtering every man, woman, and child.  Captives throughout history have customarily faced death or forced servitude and suffered untold tortures and brutality at the hands of their captors.

While one might think that the rise of religion should have served to ameliorate these behaviors, in fact quite the opposite is the case.  Organized religion has often fueled the flames of suspicion and hatred.  And, no matter what religion we scrutinize, we discover a disturbing pattern of converting non-believers by force or simply eliminating them.

In ancient times, military success was viewed as evidence of the superiority of the gods of the victor over those of the vanquished.  Thus, the inferior gods and those worshiping them needed to be eliminated so that they would not serve as a source of contamination to the victorious peoples.  Not much has changed in the intervening centuries.  How different is the ancient perspective from the claims of racial, religious, gender, or cultural supremacy that we have historically witnessed and observe even to this day?

Today, we observe the struggle between the adherents of radical Islam and those of the Judeo-Christian tradition.  As has been the case in all such conflicts throughout the millennia of recorded history, each side firmly believes that it has a monopoly on truth and that it is doing God’s will.  This commitment propels each side and ensures that compromise is rendered impossible.  Of course, the conviction of combatants in a conflict is nothing new.  The availability of weapons of mass destruction to each side in this conflict, however, dictates that the potential exists for devastation and suffering on a scale never before seen in the civilized world.

It is an empirical truth that, unchallenged, the preponderance of mankind will not change.  They will continue smugly confident in the rectitude of their lives, beliefs, and behaviors until forced to confront the possibility of error.  And, only when faced with the most primal of challenges will mankind come to its moment of truth.

Thus, the potential strike of planet Earth by Apophis presents mankind with both a challenge and an opportunity.  The challenge is clear – to develop the technological capability to avert disaster.  The opportunity, however, is much more profound.  Perhaps, as time passes and the reality of the threat to life on our planet becomes more palpable, mankind will reach a collective epiphany – realizing that our world is but an infinitesimal part of the universe and that the survival of any nation or culture is intimately interconnected with that of all others.  With that revelation, the barriers that segregate us can become bonds that join us.  And, if we are able to summon the resources to avert disaster, we may discover that, in its wake, the old order has passed away and a new world has been born, a world in which interdependence is acknowledged, cooperation is habitual, and peace and harmony rule the Earth.