Explorations

Every piece in this program begins with a journey. A hiker climbs a ridge in Colorado. A shipwrecked Odysseus is pulled from the surf. A dancer steps off the Earth and onto the moon, and a wooden ship pushes through the ice towards the South Pole against all odds, and a boy on a bicycle somehow defies gravity, trying to rescue his strange new friend.

And yet, none of these pieces are only about leaving or adventure. Odysseus leaves the island, but only because he remembers Ithaca. Ticheli’s space voyager reaches the moon and immediately turns to look back at the Earth. Shackleton’s men endure the Arctic for one reason — to get home, and E.T.’s spaceship departs, and Elliot must stay.

Wonder, adventure, and curiosity pull you out, but love and connection pull you back. Exploration only means something when there’s a harbor behind you.