The Parable of the Child Waving to Mars

One day while teaching, Josh was asked, ”Teacher, can we truly say we’ve been on Mars, when only probes have landed?”

Josh spoke thus:

A child was sitting with a parent looking at the night sky.

“When are we going to Mars?” the child asked the parent.

“It will be a long, long time before we go to Mars,” the parent told the child, “We’ve been to the moon.”

“You’ve been to the moon?” the child asked.

“Not me personally,” the parent said.

“Who has?” the child asked.

“Astronauts, long ago,” the parent said.

“How long ago?” the child asked, “Since the dinosaurs?”

“Since the dinosaurs, yes,” the parent said, “And since cowboys and indians, and since Red Baron planes and since the Beatles.”

“The Beatles were in a Yellow Submarine,” the child said, “But they didn’t go to the moon.”

“No the Beatles didn’t go to the moon,” the parent said.

“I don’t want to go to the moon,” the child said, “I want to go to Mars.”

“Do you want to be the first to go to Mars?” the parent asked.

“I don’t want to be the first,” the child said, “I don’t like camping.”

“I don’t think you’d be camping,” the parent said.

“Are there houses?” the child asked.

“There aren’t houses,” the parent said.

“Then there’s camping, and I don’t like camping,” the child said, “When there are houses, then I’ll go.”

“What if they don’t have houses, but they have hotels?” the parent asked.

The child considered this question seriously, then said, “You’re being silly, aren’t you?”

The parent agreed that the parent was being silly.

“Will there be TV on Mars?” the child asked.

“There’s TV on Mars now,” the parent said, “The machines on Mars have TV cameras, and they’re sending pictures back to us.”

“Like at a baseball game?” the child asked.

“Like at a baseball game,” the parent said.

The child waved at the night sky.

“Wave,” the child said, “We’re on TV.”

“We’re too far away,” the parent said, “The cameras can’t see us.”

“Nobody sees me at baseball games, but I still wave,” the child said, “We always wave.”

The parent waved along with the child.

“Will you wave at me when I’m on Mars?” the child asked.

“Every day,” the parent said.

The child turned to wave directly at the parent.

“This is what I’ll look like,” the child said, “So you know what I look like when I’m on Mars and I wave.”