Porcelain

I watched the Discovery launch this morning. It's been the work of the NASA family for many years to fix the porcelain tiles that fractured on the Challenger launch and subsequently killed all the members on board. I have known and quietly admired the simplicity of the porcelain tiles since I was in high school. Back then I was just beginning my obsession with ceramics and loved to spill out all the spectacular uses that clay and in particular porcelain had for the world.
It's so simple in it's essence. Earth, Water and Fire. The three elements. I think that was what had attracted me to the medium in the first place. I feel humans don't spend enough time appreciating the earth they live on and any chance I get to move closer to the earth I grab with furtive desire. Before I worked in ceramics I used photography as my medium of choice. Although the technical innovation of the metals that create photos enchanted me I was always bothered by the damage that photographic by-products cause. So ceramics seemed like a wonderful new venue.
As I said before, I loved talking to people about the vast and long history of clay with humans. The way African, Chinese, Middle Eastern, and South American cultures all knew the vast uses and benefits of clay both before and after heating the material. The way that such a simple item, one that is found around the world in a complete and ready to use formula, can continue in this day and age to show itself as on the cutting edge of innovation. It's an item that is tested constantly in laboratories around the world, is used in computers, is beneficial to the human skin, and enhances the enjoyment of children at fancy "Make your own Pot" birthday parties. And of course pure porcelain keeps astronauts from burning up in re-entry through the earth's atmosphere.
So what of all this? Why does this matter? What can we as a culture learn from today's launch? Don't we have other more pressing matters to deal with?
Someone 50+ years ago looked at porcelain and saw past it's skin. Saw past how fragile porcelain is when you drop it. Saw past how limited it's uses were, saw past it's limitations and gave it the opportunity to do more than what it should be able to do. And now porcelain saves the lives of astronauts every time they re-enter the earth's atmosphere allowing these scientists to do research that has saved countless numbers of lives around the world.
So when our "First World" countries sit around in their board rooms talking at conferences such as the G8, discussing who to help and who not to help. Remember that these are just people like us. They have never has the opportunity to prove themselves. We have never given them the hope needed to prove themselves. We are the ones who can give them the ability to do more then even they have ever dreamed they could be. We are the ones with the power to transform the world. If only we could give the world that chance.

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