The following post has been submitted by Billy Jackson
The Moment.
Tick . . . tick . . . tick . . .
Slowly and steady the second hand marches forward inexhaustible, undaunted, and unstoppable. There are only a few times in our lives that we face events that irrevocably change us on an almost fundamental level. One where our lives are never the same. For some it could be a simple ‘yes’ heard on a bended knee, the first breath and cry of a newborn child, a long sought-after truth finally exposed, or even the discovery that the impossible is suddenly probable.
While these moments are personal they are not limited to the individual, but also to nations. These moments define us for good or ill. 1775, A scared and nervous farmer on the north bridge in Concord, Massachusetts fired a shot that birthed a nation. A sad but resolute Lincoln refused to allow our nation to splinter, the confused looks turned to sudden fear and surprise as a low droning noise was heard in the early morning at Pearl Harbor where it shouldn’t be, a young black preacher from Alabama with a dream climbing the steps of a historical monument to address a nation, the dawning and realization that it wasn’t an accident when we saw that second plane crash into the World Trade Center — we can march through history and find many of these moments.
Finally there are the exceptional moments that change not just nations, but the world around us. The Wright Brothers’ first flight in the sand dunes of Kitty Hawk. The first live broadcast on TV. The first step off The Eagle ladder onto the moon; the first boot of the unknown soldier landing on the beaches of Omaha; even the detonation of the first atomic bomb; the simple transistor; the first light-bulb. All have had a worldwide effect of profound significance that changed us forever.
Tick . . . tick . . . tick . . .
President Franklin D. Roosevelt once said “Men are not prisoners of fate, but only prisoners of their own minds.”
I state this because it is my belief that we face one of these profound world changing moments that will affect all of us on every level. Within a short period of time we may have the privilege to read or hear the announcement of the official results from the near year-long test of the Rossi 1MW E-cat plant. As that Moment slides towards us one tick at a time until it becomes our reality we must face a choice. We must realize that we are both the prisoner and the warden. Ours is to decide whether we allow fear to cause us to remain in our cell where it is safe but constrained and controlled, despite how pretty they make our cell, or whether we slam the cage open seeking once more to find the spirit that allowed us to reach out and touch the stars.
Tick . . . tick . . . tick . . .
I want to give a special thank you to Andrea Rossi and his team along with Industrial Heat & Cherokee. I want to thank Frank Acland for keeping the fires burning despite the adversity and criticism. And finally thank you to everyone on this board who lent a voice in these discussions. Years down the road it will be here we can come back and say this is where we were when faced with the E-Cat Moment.
Billy Jackson
