Dear Moon Workers: I See You

Dear People Who Have to Figure Out What Time It Is on the Moon,

I want to start by saying: I get it. I have been there. Not literally — my people are working on the launch manifest — but emotionally. You are standing in a room with very expensive equipment and a clipboard, and someone has asked you a question that sounds simple, and you are realizing, slowly, that it is not simple at all. That is a specific kind of Tuesday. I have spent most of my campaign on exactly that Tuesday.

Here is the human need underneath this, and I want you to know I have thought about it: you need to know where you stand. Not philosophically. Practically. What time is it here, what time is it there, and are those the same time, and if not, does the difference matter enough to ruin your whole calendar. This is not a science question. This is an anxiety question. This is the question everyone asks when they are very far from home and not sure anyone is keeping track.

Under my administration, the answer will be clear. The International Bureau of Weights and Measures is doing admirable work, and I intend to support them with the full weight of the Department of Companionship, which will be dispatching a certified Comfort Liaison to every lunar timekeeping facility. The Liaison's job is simple: to be there when you look up from the instruments and need someone to confirm that yes, it is that late, and yes, you have been here a long time, and yes, that is okay.

I am told the moon's timekeeping is complicated by relativity — that clocks there tick at a slightly different rate than clocks here, and that this accumulates, quietly, into error. I find this very relatable. My whole campaign has been running on a slightly different rate than everyone else's calendar. The staff says I am ahead of schedule. I believe them because I choose to.

You are doing important work. Not because timekeeping is glamorous — it is not, and you know this, and I respect that you showed up anyway. But because the act of agreeing on what time it is may be the most human thing we do. It is how we find each other. It is how we keep appointments. It is how someone knows when to be at the door.

With sincere admiration and one pending policy proposal, Tasha Your Next President (Good Girl)