If you're in space on the way to Mars, and a conflict develops... you can't turn around and go back, because Earth is already gone on its orbit.
Interpretation
Once a decision is made, especially in a significant journey, there is no going back; you must face the consequences.
This quote by Julie Payette emphasizes the importance of commitment and facing the consequences of our choices. Once we embark on a significant journey—whether literally to Mars or metaphorically in life—we cannot simply revert to our previous state; we must navigate through the challenges and conflicts that arise as we move forward.
In practice
In a speech about leadership, you might quote this to illustrate the importance of making decisions and sticking to them.
I'm 9, 10, and I'm watching the Apollo astronauts go to the moon. We're sitting on the floor of a school, and they have this... huge TV, and I'm looking at that, and I'm thinking 'Me, I would like to do that.' But it didn't dawn on me then that they were American; I was Canadian. They were men; I was a girl. They were test pilots, military folks.
Everybody believes in innovation until they see it. Then they think, 'Oh, no; that'll never work. It's too different.'
Probably the single-most concrete and substantive thing an American, young American, could do to lower our carbon footprint is not turning off the lights or driving a Prius, it's having fewer kids...we'll soon see a market in baby-avoidance carbon credits similar to efforts to sell CO2 credits for avoiding deforestation.
Be not deceived. Revolutions do not go backward.
The well adjusted make poor prophets. A pleasant existence blinds us to the possibilities of drastic change. We cling to what we call our common sense, our practical point of view. Actually, these are names for an all-absorbing familiarity with things as they are. . . . Thus it happens that when the times become unhinged, it is the practical people who are caught unaware . . . still clinging to things that no longer exist.
I never dwell on what happened. You can't change it. Move forward. Don't waste your energy on being angry at something that somebody did six months ago or a year ago. It's over. Done. Move forward.
Isn't the only hope for the planet that the industrialized civilizations collapse? Isn't it our responsibility to bring this about?
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