Everyday events in the news could mark the beginnings of revolutionary human history in the near future, similar to how a simple domino can set off large chain reactions, resulting in major changes amongst the dominos. Examples of these everyday events range from the first passenger spaceships tested by SpaceX, the nomination of Black Lives Matter for the Nobel Peace Prize, and the distribution of Covid-19 vaccinations across the world. With the development of a passenger spacecraft, SpaceX could become the new pioneering company for the eventual expansion of humankind throughout space. The nomination of Black Lives Matter for the Nobel Peace Prize marks a new development for raising awareness of human equality across the globe. Covid-19 may have already had its largest impact on modern humanity, but the method of distributing vaccinations could mark new beginnings in the fight against diseases and viruses. As such, these three important events should be included in a “this moment in history” starter pack, as they mark new developments, progress towards achieving world peace, and potential beginnings in the history of humankind.

First of all, the testing of the first passenger spacecraft by SpaceX marks new developments in the history of humankind, as we may soon send the first people to Mars. As Marcia Dunn, an aerospace writer for the Associated Press, explains, “Musk is developing Starship to carry people to Mars, perhaps in as little as several years”. From this evidence, it is implied that these early tests of the passenger spacecraft are just the beginning of a future plan to send people to Mars. The explosive results, ending in the destruction of the prototype spacecraft, within the early stages of these tests are just simple setbacks that should be ironed out soon under the leadership of its CEO and one of the world’s richest men, Elon Musk. However, there are others who would argue against the credibility and authenticity of Elon Musk as a person and leader of such a great task. One such person is Manu Kaushik, who explains in his article from timesnownews.com, “When Tesla, SpaceX, and PayPal co-founder is not shooting rockets into orbits, he’s probably smoking spliffs with Joe Rogan, getting into Twitter brawls or getting into legal trouble with US stock market regulator —as part of his amazing high definition technicolor life”. Kaushik then goes on to explain the various instances of controversy Musk has engaged in, from creating a rating site for journalists, making Tesla a private company through buying his own stocks, dubbing a British rescuer a “child rapist” when he didn’t use the submarine Musk provided to save the children from a cave in Thailand of 2018, smoking pot on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast in California, to publicly announcing his Tesla stock is too high. For all of these reasons and more, it can effectively be argued that Elon Musk may not be the best candidate for leading the future of human space exploration. Despite this argument, the CEO is the closest one to forming legitimate plans and technology for these plans to be executed, as not one other company, including NASA, has plans to land the first people on Mars within the next five years. If this goes according to Elon Musk’s plans, the voyage of people to Mars could mark the next great development in humankind’s long history of achievements. As such, it should definitely be implemented into a “this moment in history” starter pack as a landmark for what the future may hold. 

Next, the nomination of the Black Lives Matter movement for the Nobel Peace Prize marks progress towards achieving world peace. Jessica Lee, a fact-checker from Snopes.com  uses a quote from Petter Eide, a member of the Norwegian Parliament, in The Guardian, “‘I find that one of the key challenges we have seen in America, but also in Europe and Asia, is the kind of increasing conflict based on inequality,’ Eide said. ‘Black Lives Matter has become a very important worldwide movement to fight racial injustice’”. Based on this evidence, the effects of the Black Lives Matter movement have become worldwide, gaining recognition for major awards from foreign nations. Yet, it all began with a simple Facebook post back in the summer of 2013. In response to the reactions from her Facebook feed regarding the news of George Zimmerman being released as a free man after murdering Trayvon Martin on February 26, 2012, Alicia Garza wrote a series of Facebook posts titled “A Love Letter to Black People”. Her friend, Patrisse Cullors, responded to the post with “#BlackLivesMatter”. And so a movement was born. The movement would go on to gain popularity with the 2013 death of Michael Brown, sparking a national-level protest. In addition to this, their methods would revolutionize Black activism. Methods ranging from disrupting national holidays, publicly challenging the government, and gaining support from large organizations such as the N.F.L. would bolster its popularity and support, causing protests to number in the millions where the Civil Rights Movement only had hundreds of thousands (Isabella Mercado). With this long and outstanding history in mind, as well as the nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize from a Norwegian member of Parliament, it can be argued that Black Lives Matter is truly affecting global politics and issues. This praise and recognition from outside the United States marks great progress in spreading awareness of racial inequality and achieving world peace, especially as the effects of white supremacy can still be seen in modern scenarios. One example of this was the so-called “Raid on the Capitol” on January 6th, 2021. Both the reasoning and groups behind this raid are explained by Coshandra Dillard on learningforjustice.org, “Some commentators viewed the violence in Washington, D.C., as white supremacy’s last stand or an attempt to take back control. However, white supremacy has never lost its footing in the United States. As much progress has been made to create a more just and inclusive society, white supremacy continues to be the foundation that has not yet been uprooted”. There are still many factors preventing true racial equality from becoming reality, especially white supremacy. It has always been prevalent in our modern history, from the founding of the United States to modern-day politics. As such, it has deep roots within our government institutions and social depictions of life. Evil ideas such as this need to be uprooted and stamped out from all aspects of modern society in order to achieve world peace. This is the ultimate goal of movements such as Black Lives Matter, which, as previously explained, has seen great success in combating racial inequality on a global scale. The global recognition the movement has gained from this nomination should be measured as great progress towards achieving world peace in the history of humankind, pointing towards its importance for being included in a “this moment in history” starter pack.  

Finally, the distribution of Covid-19 vaccines amidst the pandemic could call for new beginnings in how we fight diseases and viruses in the future based on current methods of distribution. Due to the sudden onslaught of this infectious new disease, developing the vaccine has taken time and distribution is even slower. Even now, not everyone is permitted to receive one due to the short supply and the government distribution system currently being used. According to CDC.gov, “The federal government oversees a centralized system to order, distribute, and track COVID-19 vaccines. All vaccines are ordered through CDC. Vaccination providers receive vaccines from CDC’s centralized distributor or directly from a vaccine manufacturer”. With this evidence in mind, it can be argued that this method of distributing Covid-19 vaccines through government control is the best way possible, especially given the sudden onslaught and uncertainty of Covid-19. It can also be argued that this was the most realistic response to Covid-19 considering the bureaucratic nature of the government and other health institutions, as well as the general reality of how these systems work to serve the entire population. However, large quantities of human life have already been impacted by Covid-19, including over 500,000 deaths in the U.S. alone (CDC). Many would argue that this provides substantial evidence to argue that vaccinations have not been distributed efficiently or quickly enough. Due to this, the effects of Covid-19 have certainly been felt by all members of the community, especially now when vaccinations are restricted to those at risk, such as health workers and the elderly. In response, Kayla, a 20-year-old college student from Maryland states that “...she feels forgotten all over again because, as a young and healthy person, she isn’t a priority for vaccination” (Fortesa Latifi). On the other side of this, not everyone who qualifies for the vaccination is receiving it. For example, the Miami Herald reports that wealthier communities are receiving the vaccination more than the low-income communities, despite the low-income communities being hit harder by Covid-19 (Fortesa Latifi). All of this points towards a need for a more effective distribution system to prevent this from happening again. I myself am still being impacted as I am currently working on this essay from home, despite it being nearly a year after Covid-19 began spreading in the United States. In the aftermath of Covid-19 and its troubling effects, we will be more aware as a species of the importance of having an effective system in place for dealing with future diseases on the pandemic scale. As such, the current distribution of Covid-19 vaccinations, and its inefficiency, could mark a potential new beginning in how we prepare for future diseases on the pandemic scale, pointing towards its legitimacy to be part of a “this moment in history” starter pack.  

In the end, these three major topics should be included in a “this moment in history” starter pack, as they mark new developments, progress, and potential beginnings in the history of humankind. First of all, the recent developments of SpaceX concerning new passenger spacecraft could contribute to the future of space exploration, despite the controversies surrounding its CEO, Elon Musk. Second of all, the incredible progress the Black Lives Matter movement has made in the past decade, especially being nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by a foreign figure, marks great progress towards achieving world peace. And finally, the slow response of the nation to distribute vaccinations which are still restricted to a few groups, despite it being nearly a year after Covid-19 broke out, points towards new beginnings in how we as a nation will face similar outbreaks in the future through a more efficient distribution system. Others would argue that different events may qualify more for a “this moment in history” starter pack, such as the second impeachment of President Donald Trump or Jeff Bezos stepping down from Amazon. However, both of these events, despite both of them being the first time in history, respectively, will not have the same impact on the future of humankind as the previously discussed topics will. They will not matter in fifty years from now, whereas the beginnings of long-term space exploration, achieving world peace, or fighting diseases will. Always remember that those everyday events in the news could be major points of history in the future whether for the progression or regression of humanity, including that which only one person puts into action. As such, never take the progress of humankind for granted, for it could just as easily be undone. How far can one person guide the progress of humankind?