Bermuda has forged its way through periods of difficult times, and not without great sacrifice by many who will probably never have their names on an honour roll. Nevertheless, they contributed significantly to helping to preserve common good values for living that promote respect, order and a keen sense for doing what is right — even in the face of those who prefer marching to a different drumbeat.

This age-old dilemma has been a part of civilisations throughout global history. We live in a world of mind-boggling scientific achievements, which include a space station orbiting the Earth with a crew inside, working on experiments that will assist in gaining crucial knowledge needed to enhance life on our planet.

However, even as these brave astronauts cope with the challenges of living weightless in space for long periods, they know people on Earth are still dying in conflicts over a wide range of issues.

Finding solutions can be more complex than the technical wonders that provide the life-sustaining conditions for the astronauts outside of our atmosphere.

It takes a highly trained team of scientists and experts on Earth to monitor vital signs of the space station, along with the crew, who maintain a high standard of safety and efficiency as they work as a team.

Apart from the scientific aspect of these missions, an interesting factor seldom mentioned is that, over the years, crew members of that space station have represented just about every leading nation and culture.

They have provided a meaningful lesson in how diversity is the way forward in a constantly developing global environment. With millions in various regions suffering from hunger and the fear of death from conflicts largely resulting from dictatorial regimes, much of the free world ponders whether there will ever be a solution to these devastating events.

One of the great lessons from the international space station could be that whenever they encounter a problem, and they occasionally do, solving it requires teamwork of the highest standard. Survival could depend on cool thinking and the proper application of skills with the single objective of correcting something gone wrong.

Much of this work often occurs without many people aware of what is taking place thousands of miles above them.

Very often we think of space technology as just that: technology. What is often missed is the dedication and commitment of not only brave, but brilliant people of different racial and ethnic backgrounds who merge their talents with a professional standard that much of the world can learn from.

Unlike on Earth, in space, survival depends on full co-operation in solving problems. A case in point was the Russian space station Mir, which had an accident some years ago that threatened the lives of the crew, an American astronaut included.

An attempted docking in space went terribly wrong and resulted in a collision that damaged parts of the station. The crew jumped into emergency action as anxiety mounted on the ground between Russian and American space officials.

After more than a few anxious moments, as the Russian commander fought to stabilise the situation, they managed to bring the problem under control. As it turned out, the Russian commander had strong reservations about the docking procedure because at one stage visibility was an issue.

Russian ground control dismissed his concerns and ordered him to proceed. Ironically, when it all backfired, Russian authorities placed the blame on the commander and threatened to cut his salary. However, when more information was revealed about what happened, there was strong protest from Nasa and other space agencies, and the Russians decided not to proceed.

The Mir space station was later abandoned and destroyed, but with many lessons learnt about solving complicated problems, even in space.

Bermuda is facing a number of highly sensitive issues that have divided much of the population over what should be done for the island and its people. Immigration, same-sex marriage, violent crime, illegal drugs, the gang culture, along with what appears to be a slow path towards broken traditional values, are deeply troubling to most Bermudians.

Perhaps we need to look at our lovely island as a spaceship in the Atlantic and apply our skills collectively to keep it functioning and productive for this and future generations.

There will be no real progress until real co-operation toward that goal involves every single Bermudian.