Regret is the saddest emotion. We look back over our lives and wish we’d done something different. Or, we wish we could tell someone we’re sorry but can’t find the courage to make amends. Or then, we realize what a wondrous world we’d have if only … if only we quit letting pride, arrogance, and greed have such an impact on our world.

My Owl friend’s niece just flew back from Florida. (We owls keep one another informed. We’re like that.) What a magnificent event just happened on the Florida coast. Artemis 1, America’s first rocket shot back to the Moon in 50 years, was successfully launched in the wee hours of a mid-November night. The brainpower living in North Alabama initiated this world-shattering event! Crowds gathered for a “watch party” at the Space and Rocket Museum’s Saturn 5 building to await liftoff. With the mighty launch, cheers erupted which pounded the ceiling, rocked the walls, and boosted all our spirits. What a wonderful world.

And yet, in another part of our world, Russia’s war against civilization continues. This time, their rocket slaughtered people. Mr. Putin’s war of choice once again barraged 100 missiles at Ukrainian utility plants. This war crime resulted in a rocket flying into Poland, exploding and killing two simple farmers. Am I alone in seeing the irony here? The most modern technology of today’s rocket science killed those who raise food to keep us alive and healthy. These Polish farm folk woke up that morning, wished one another well, and were murdered by Putin’s war of choice that very day. They were victims of something which never needed to happen at all. Most now believe the explosion in Poland was caused by an anti-missile system which failed to hit the incoming Russian rocket. Yet guilt for the deaths of these Polish folk will always remain with the assailants: Putin’s artillerymen. Not with those trying to defend a democratic Ukrainian society fighting for its freedom. Ukraine has now lost over half its electrical grid to the Russian bombardment. Ukrainians are freezing in the snow, with no hope of warmth.

We reflect. What is with Mr. Putin? Can he only crave power, now that he’s one of the richest men on earth? After all, when you have every physical thing mortal man can want, the last “thing” to seek is power. Who cares how many thousands must die in his rocket assaults against civilians, mine fields, or Russian torture chambers? What does the circle of criminals around Putin want? In this, his latest war, we see a repeat of all the Russian slaughter directed against Chechnya, the Republic of Georgia, and Syria. Putin’s military commander first surrounds a city, and pounds its water, heat, and fuel facilities with heavy artillery and missiles. Old grandmothers, little children, and their mothers are massacred. In buildings left standing, toilets no longer flush, water no longer runs, and an inescapable cold and darkness fall. Civilians survive like rats in sewers. They are reduced to mere desperados scrambling for food, fleeing if possible, and fighting if they can shoulder a weapon. Scenes of mothers staggering with babies desperate for sanctuary anywhere remind us that we’re still living in a world of revenge, hatred, and lies. Young Russian men flee across borders by hundreds of thousands from Russian army service. Now we find Russian recruits with virtually no training forced into action by desperate generals, murderous mercenaries of the Wagner Group, Russian criminals released from jails, and Chechnyans led by a sadistic warlord.

What could have been? We could have rejoiced, as together with all the nations of the world, we launched the Artemis shot to the heavens, there to learn more about our universe. We could have even had Russian scientists helping us to guide magnificent craft on journeys to faraway places, the better to understand flight characteristics, aerial safety, and human reactions in space. Instead, Russians chose to fire rockets which leveled whole cities’ water, heat and electrical infrastructure. Their rockets ultimately brought about bloody death from the skies to two Polish farmers. Oh, and don’t for a moment think they didn’t. Russian arrogance and pride were the causes of that rocket being fired. And pride, as we all know, goes before the fall.