Wednesdays Stranger Week Three

WEDNESDAY’S STRANGER – WEEK THREE

Posted on May 30, 2018 by Yann Tromeur

In this new section, I am not going to talk about myself or any of my work / self-improvement / techno obsession (just a little).

Here is week three ”WEDNESDAY’S STRANGER”.

Every Wednesday on the iooikos blog, I will talk about a personality. Someone you might know, but most of the time no. Because I like surprises, I will try to surprise you every week and treat you with discovering a personality, a character I found interesting, that struck me during the week, in the past year, someone I might know personally as well… or not !

So, without further ado…

Alan Bean died last Saturday in Houston Texas. He was eigty two years old. He was a painter for the past thirty five years or so. But, he has been more than that.

In a Ninety Four interview with the New York, he commented: ”Every artist has the Earth or their imaginations to inspire their paintings…”.

Fellow collegue Harrison Schmitt called Bean “one of the great renaissance men of his generation — engineer, fighter…artist.”

This is Art. Alan Bean was a very unique person, in a sense that is main success is not much shared among us. Very few people in the history of humanity have done what he did.

Twelve people did it. From 1968 to 1972.

They did what? Alan Bean was the fourth of them to walk on the Moon and thus made Humanity History in of its most innovative and adventurous act.

I am not a huge fan of Moon’s conquest though. As a kid, that was something that really got my curiosity. I also happen to have an uncle who worked from the French space agency. He would sometimes bring me photos or strange goodies like “space food”: basically vacuum sealed food. But as a kid, it was putting my mind further than that!

So this is why, partly, I wanted to make Alan Bean my stranger of the week. Other than my personal history with History, I found Alan Bean’s very compelling.

For one, it is not because you fall short of the podium that you can be considered a failure. Alan Bean was fourth man to walk on the Moon. So, I guess he is no Neil Armstrong. For this particular History Chapter, not many of us will remember #2, 3… who walked earth’s satellite.

Nevertheless, they all deserve a chapter in the book of Earth. As probably do all that participated in designing the program, the vehicules and the tools.

Second, Alan Bean was able to do also what few of us can do in a lifespan: change career and embrace all his passions. From a bachelor of science degree in aeronautical engineering (the University of Texas in 1955), to office in the Navy, Test Pilot then astronaut, to painter! He might not have the greatest painter on the planet, but he managed to do his thing his way. That really deserves respect.

Third, my thoughts brought me to the failure of Humanity to challenge itself to similar grand projects. I mean, there is will, both from public and private parties, to go to Mars. But I do not see any interests in the Public eye. In  a time of such interconnectivity, how can we still be unable to gather and grow up as a civilisation?

“Civi-lazy-tion”

We are so conformed to our daily “peace” (oh yeah it is really relative) that WE do not take more challenges.

Make more sustainable plans for our ecosystem? Looks good but does it pay? What are our next challenges ? Our next adventures ?

Innovation does not have anymore the lead. Popularity comes from clicks not from acts unfortunately. Ask Elon Musk about it: innovation and business don’t get on very well anymore.

We need to focus less on finance more on the goals ! Part of the problem is we lack of creative people with voice. Especially, if they we shut them down for they do not deliver on time! What would happen to Da Vinci in our time : we would have never let him fifteen years to make the Mona Lisa.

Alan Bean once said : “If I were a scientist painting the Moon, I would paint it gray. I’m an artist, so I can add colors to the Moon”. Creators need time and money. I know, “time is money” but…

For me, Creativity will always be first on the podium to success.