The Martian is a sci-fi film starring Matt Damon, adapted from the novel by Andy Weir. It was released in the U.S. in late 2015, but I would first see it in the winter of 2017, after He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named had slithered into the Oval Office for the first time. The film felt like a gift from Sanity Central. It spoke so eloquently, so truthfully to what it takes to survive disaster.

In February of this year, history having repeated itself, our situation even darker, the threat more malignant, I pulled out the DVD and popped it in the player. I needed that film. Needed to be reminded of the truth it speaks, the human condition it addresses, the strength and hope it inspires. Weir’s astronaut Mark Watney may be a fictional character, but his methods for coping with and ultimately transcending a very dark experience have much of value to teach us.   

The Moment Everything Explodes

Mark Watney (Damon) and his fellow astronauts are in the middle of their mission to explore the Acidalia Planitia—a vast flat plane on Mars that scientists posit may once have contained a large body of water—when a monstrous dust storm erupts, threatening their Mars Ascent Vehicle (MAV) and forcing them to abandon the mission or risk certain death. The crew rushes to safety inside the MAV III, but a quick headcount reveals they’re one short. Watney is missing. Checking the monitors for the surrounding area, they see Watney in the swirling dust, flattened by a chunk of debris. Mission Commander, Jessica Chastain, wants to rescue him, but the storm is intensifying. Every second counts. They must leave now. Reluctantly, she launches the MAV III to rendezvous with their orbiting spaceship, the Hermes. Time to head back to Earth. She cannot risk the rest of her crew to save one man, a man who appears to be dead.

A Brutal Awakening

But Watney is not dead. He awakens hours later to find himself injured and his oxygen tank nearly spent. He hobbles back to the “Hab”, where the crew lived, ups his oxygen and applies antibiotics to the wound in his stomach. But his physical pain pales beside what he knows to be the truth of his situation: He is stranded on Mars with a minimal amount of food and water, no way to get in touch with his crewmates or NASA mission control, 140 million miles from Earth. Because everyone will assume he’s dead, he will have to wait for the next Mars mission, scheduled to arrive four Earth years from now and 2,000 miles away at Mars’ Schiaparelli crater.

He starts a video diary, figuring if he doesn’t make it, someone may still find the journal and know what he did to try to survive. Because that is his intention: To survive. It’s either that or lay down and die right now. Any way you look at it, he has nothing to lose by trying.

One, the Loneliest Number

I think we can all agree it doesn’t get any darker, any scarier than the situation Watney awakes to. The threats we face in this moment are many and undeniably serious: We might lose our healthcare (ACA, Medicaid, Medicare); our job, especially if we work for the federal government (this happened to someone I know); our Social Security. A drastic reduction in income might mean we lose our home. And losing our healthcare obviously poses serious, even life-threatening dangers (more on this later). In such times, it’s hard to focus on anything but our fears, to feel anything other than distress, but I think we can all agree that we have been spared the worst fate. Unlike Watney, we are not alone. So, what can we do? Again, The Martian has something useful to teach us.    

Assessing The Situation

Food, water, shelter. The most basic and vital of needs. Abandoned at the midpoint of the mission, Watney has the Hab for shelter, but a very limited supply of food and potable water. Maybe 6-8 weeks’ worth because the rations were intended for a larger crew. Certainly nothing like the four years’ supply he will need. Thus begins his assessment, which leads to taking action on the most immediate problems.

His check of the food stock reveals a bit of luck—a stash of potatoes reserved for an upcoming Thanksgiving meal for the crew. As a botanist, he knows you can plant whole or parts of potatoes that have “eyes” (sprouted) and reap new ones. The Martian soil will need to be fertilized, however, for the potatoes to grow. Fortunately, the crew’s bio-waste stored in the Hab will work. He tills the soil, mixing in the human waste, but he still needs water. This he accomplishes by extracting the hydrogen from the leftover rocket fuel and burning it with oxygen. Voila—water!  His giant field of potatoes will thrive.

Assessing his situation, exploring what is at hand, acting on the possibilities gives him purpose, calms his fears, and enhances his chance of survival. A win-win which brings some real light into a very dark situation.

What We Can Do   

Give up and wait for doom OR be proactive and fight for our rights, our healthcare, our environment, our schools, the Social Security we’ve paid into all our working lives, our very democracy itself—that’s the choice we all face. Watney had no line of communication, but we do. We can contact our elected officials—our U.S. senators and reps. Even if they’re lackeys to Trump, especially if they’re lackeys, let them know in stark detail the harm you, your loved ones, and your community are facing, how you feel. And don’t overlook your state senators and reps. My state rep, Lindsay Sabadosa, has been a tremendous help on several occasions, once cutting through bureaucratic red tape during The Plague and telling a local business that was refusing to follow new state policies that they must do so—it was the law. And they did. Pronto.

If your U.S congressperson hasn’t offered a Town Hall since Trump’s inauguration, demand one now. It’s your right. Get your neighbors and friends to do the same. Tell any U.S. rep attempting to hide in the shadows while our democracy is dismantled—tell that congressperson THIS WILL NOT DO. In many districts across the country, where Republican congresspersons are refusing to hold a town hall, afraid to confront the anger and distress of the people they supposedly represent, Democrats are stepping in, holding gatherings, packing rooms to the max (sometimes having to relocate to handle the record-breaking crowds), and listening to the fears and grievances of the American people.

Persistence Pays Off 

Having taken care of his basic survival needs, Watney turns his attention to modifying the crew’s rover—a jeeplike vehicle—in preparation for his future trek to the Ares IV MAV at Schiaparelli Crater. He then takes the modified rover on a one-month journey to recover the Pathfinder probe—a communications system from a prior mission that can link him with NASA. He gets Pathfinder up and running. As it turns out, NASA has suspected Watney survived. Satellite images showed that equipment had been moved around near the Hab. But it’s only with Watney’s resurrecting the probe that NASA is able to send a software patch to link the rover to the probe and establish communication.

Yay! Everything’s working out. It’ll be a long wait for the rescue, but the rover’s up and running, he’s in communication with Earth. Things are definitely looking brighter. Patience, hard work and determination win the day!

And then…

Another Disaster

The water-making process Watney uses to grow food releases hydrogen into the Hab’s atmosphere. Over time, a lot of hydrogen. The air in the Hab has become highly flammable. One day while Watney’s going about his chores, a small quantity of oxygen escapes his mask. Yes, oxygen combined with hydrogen forms water as noted above—that’s how Watney’s been growing potatoes—but too much hydrogen explodes when it encounters oxygen. A big bang that blows out the Hab’s airlock, destroying the potato crop in seconds and fracturing one of Watney’s ribs. He can—and does—repair the airlock, but his food supply is just about tapped out. Good thing he’s in touch with NASA now. They quickly arrange to send a shipment of food, enough to last until the Ares IV mission arrives. Relief. Problem solved. BUT. Anxious to get the supplies to Watney, some routine safety inspections are skipped at NASA and the spacecraft disintegrates after launch.

Always Be Prepared

There’s a good reason, as Watney’s story shows, for heeding that old Scout motto: Be prepared. S#*t happens, and the more resources we have to hand, the better our chances of surviving whatever befalls us. Now’s the time to make a list of potential threats you face:

Issue: Losing your healthcare, losing your Social Security or having your student loans suddenly called in, especially if the situation leaves you struggling and possibly homeless. Not many of us have $100,000 lying around for “a rainy day.”

Action: Check with your city/town and state officials regarding measures they may have to prevent you from losing your home if you can no longer afford to pay property taxes. Do the same for medical assistance programs if you lose your healthcare (Medicaid/Medicare). Policies and programs vary from state to state, but it never hurts to know what options/safety nets exist should you need them.

Regarding healthcare, it is a federal law—the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA)—that all hospitals in the U.S. must treat you in the emergency room even if you don’t have insurance, even if you cannot pay, even if you owe them money for prior treatment(s). And they must treat your emergency medical condition before talking money. EMTALA—it’s literally a life saver. And it’s every American’s legal right. 

Issue: Being arrested for exercising your First Amendment Rights to speak out, to participate in a protest or march, to petition the government about policies you find threatening or repugnant, to worship as you choose, or not to worship at all. Being deported because you have the wrong ethnicity, surname or skin color.

Mahmoud Khalil—a Columbia University student and activist in the protests against U.S. support for Israel’s war on the Palestinian people—was snatched from his New York home by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in March and sent more than a thousand miles away to a Louisiana ICE detention facility. Khalil is a green card holder, a lawful permanent resident of the United States—just like Sergey Brin, co-founder of Google (Russian born), Albert Einstein (German born) and … Elon Musk, Trump’s South African-born henchman for dismantling our democracy.   

Trump is alleging they have the right to deport Khalil without charging him with a crime because his presence here could pose “potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States.” Oh, right.

Khalil’s lawyers—and the list reads like the Dream Team of civil rights’ defenders (Amy Greer from Dratel & Lewis, the Center for Constitutional Rights, CLEAR, the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU), the American Civil Liberties Union, and Alina Das, co-director of the Immigrant Rights Clinic at New York University School of Law)—maintain the government is acting to punish protected political speech. If it were to succeed, it would set a dangerous precedent. “I think what’s so scary about this and what people need to realize, is the fact that you can kidnap someone basically from their home for going to a protest. That’s terrifying.” Khalil’s wife, Abdalla, said.

Action: Hopefully, you’ll never need it, but now is the time to pull together a list of people and organizations you can turn to for help in any civil rights’ crisis that may arise in this Brave New World:

• American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)
• Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC)
• Lambda Legal (defenders of LGBTQ+ rights)
• American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee
• Human Rights Campaign (HRC)
• NAACP
• National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights            

Alone No More            

After NASA’s emergency provisions spacecraft fails, the China National Space Administration offers to send a launch vehicle to resupply Watney. But NASA astrodynamicist Rich Purnell has a better plan: Use the Chinese launch to resupply Watney’s crewmates heading home on the Hermes. They can then turn around and rescue their friend two years ahead of the Ares IV landing! It’s brilliant, but NASA director Teddy Sanders isn’t happy. He fears distracting Watney’s crewmates will compromise the original mission and endanger their safe return. One of Sanders’ people risks the boss’s wrath and informs the Hermes crew of the proposed rescue plan. They all vote YES!        

So, at last, everything’s in place for the rescue, or almost. Watney sets off for the Schiaparelli crater where he’ll use the Ares IV MAV to lift off the surface and rendezvous with the Hermes spacecraft. When he arrives several months later, he must still make modifications to the MAV. It will require more fuel and oxygen if it’s to reach the necessary altitude. He also needs to lighten the craft, which means partly dismantling it—losing what is not absolutely essential. He sets to work and at last the big day arrives.

He takes off, but as the MAV runs out of fuel, it loses speed, putting it out of sync with the Hermes. Determined to rescue her teammate and friend, the Hermes Commander sets off an explosive device to rupture a forward airlock. The tremendous release of air slows down the Hermes, and the Commander launches a special tether to reach Watney, but frustratingly, they can’t quite connect. Does Watney give up hope here—too many problems and he’s tired of fighting? No. Watney tries a different tack. He pierces his pressure suit and the escaping air propels him to the Commander, ending his 575 days alone on Mars. 

Working Together: A Lifeline 

Just as Watney could not ultimately save himself without the help of his friends and fellow astronauts, we cannot hope to save our democracy, our rights and freedoms unless we band together. Rally with others to protest the illegal overturning of our democratic norms, the destruction of our institutions, the threats to our social safety nets, the wrecking of our economy (which no matter what Fox Noise says, was one of the strongest ever under Joe Biden).      

In New York City, from Times Square to Trump Tower, massive protests have taken place to demand the release of Mahmoud Khalil, the Columbia University student activist I mentioned earlier who is being held without charge at a Louisiana ICE detention center.

Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s Fighting Oligarchy tour is drawing huge crowds everywhere—more than 34,000 in Denver this past month. One of the oligarchs they’re fighting is Elon Musk, and they’re not alone in taking this fight to the people. On March 29, Action Network (AN) hosted a Global Day of Action to stop Elon Musk. “Musk is destroying our democracy, and he’s using the fortune he built at Tesla to do it, ” AN posted on their site. “We are taking action at Tesla to stop Musk’s illegal coup.” Protests against the unelected centibillionaire took place in hundreds of Tesla locations across the U.S. and beyond: Canada, much of northwest Europe, and Australia all hosted rallies!    

As Trump begins his dismantling of the Department of Education, laying off half the staff at the department’s federal office, students, parents and teachers across the nation have taken to the streets to protest the beginning of the end of America’s public school system. The National Education Association, along with the American Federation of Teachers and various civil rights groups, have filed a lawsuit demanding staff be reinstated, asserting that the massive cuts have put student civil rights in jeopardy.  

The above are but a few of the threats that have brought millions to their feet and into the street. The severe cuts to Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare, Health and Human Services, Federal Emergency Management (FEMA), the Environmental Protection Agency and many other American institutions that have long served the public interest are also being met with unrelenting backlash.

Not only is it empowering to make your voice heard, but if enough of us refuse to sit quietly while our democracy and its institutions are destroyed for the profit of a handful of billionaires, we just might win!

One Foot in Front of the Other

After many months of hair-raising disasters and having to find new solutions to problems he thought he’d conquered, Watney safely returns to Earth, where he becomes a NASA survival instructor for astronaut candidates. “You solve one problem,” he tells them, “then you solve the next, and if you solve enough of them, you get to come home.” Stay focused, keep fighting, don’t give up: That’s the message The Martian has for us.

As I was mentally outlining this post one evening while watching the news, I scribbled these words on a napkin: There is a future where everyone knows the answers to the questions we’re asking today. We can’t see into that distant moment from where we stand. Like Matt Damon’s astronaut, we can only put one foot in front of the other, strive to solve the most pressing problem of the moment, seek help from others (and offer assistance where we can), and hope it will be enough.