Anamaki Chronicles: Hope From A Mystic Portal

Saturday, April 11, 2026

Hope From A Mystic Portal - The Journey of Artemis II

For a brief time, all Americans' eyes have been trained on the heavens. Now, as they return, the challenge is to create this same sense of community here on earth.

Hope from a Mystic Portal - The Journey of Artemis II

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On May 25, 1961, in a speech titled “A Special Message to the Congress on Urgent National Needs,” President John F. Kennedy challenged the nation to land a man on the moon and return him safely to Earth before the end of the decade.

One year later, he reaffirmed this commitment in his famous “We choose to go to the Moon” address at Rice University in Houston, where he declared that the U.S. chose the goal “not because it is easy, but because it is hard. We go because it will marshal the best in us”.

I asked ChatGPT to give me a list and value of scientific research that stemmed from the quest for the moon; it was so extensive that listing them here would overwhelm this brief column. According to the National Space Society, the research conducted during the Apollo program fundamentally transformed several scientific fields and generated an economic return estimated between $5 and $8 for every $1 invested.” These advances drove economic growth for decades to come after . . . they still do.

Weeping Rock - Zion National Park
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I was just a child when John Kennedy made these speeches, but even I was inspired. As I look back now, knowing a much fuller sweep of history, I reflect on the burden of a man who had lost his first child, who had become President in the midst of what would be the CIA-inspired “Bay of Pigs” planning and attack, and when it failed, he faced the nation alone and took full responsibility - even though he had been opposed. He didn’t try to pass on the blame to others - though he could have.

One year later, he faced down the Soviet Union over the “Cuban Missile Crisis” and his own cabinet as he and his brother Bobby overruled a battle that could have ended in a nuclear exchange. Despite his advisors, he sought a diplomatic solution... and found it.

The Shoulder of Africa

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Despite all this, he called for a reexamination of Cold War attitudes and announced a unilateral U.S. suspension of atmospheric nuclear testing as a “good faith” gesture toward a formal treaty, and on July 26, 1963 he addressed the nation to announce the successful negotiation of the “Limited Nuclear Test Ban Treaty”, describing it as a “first step” toward easing the arms race. His bold pronouncement ushered in decades of leaders who sought to turn down the temperature.

Presidents are only men, and hopefully soon women.

We entrust them with our lives and, even more important, our hearts. We entrust them with the visions of our founders.

Real leaders, true to the dreams of our founders, deal with the challenges of the country and always continue to give us reason to believe in those dreams enshrined in the Declaration and the Constitution.

The Artemis II mission has reignited President Kennedy’s vision for all of us. May it serve as a torch for a real leader to follow. A leader who is honest, genuine, and empathetic. More importantly, may it fire US ALL to lead this country out of this darkness.