Reflections on the first moon landing
O, Children; O, ye Millennials and ye of the Gen X, Y, and Z; All of you who were not alive half a century ago:
How you missed out on something grand.
You young people did not experience that supreme moment, late of a summer night in 1969, when Neil Armstrong took his historic first step onto the moon.
Such a first step could only happen once, and it happened back then. 50 years ago on July 20.
Throughout all of mankind's long lifetime, from cave man to cosmonaut, people have looked up in the sky and wondered what it would be like to visit our distant moon. You unfortunate youngsters missed out on witnessing the actual, once-in-an-epoch event. Even when we return, and we will soon, that revisit will likely engender memories and comparisons to the First Step.
Think of it. It took a coordinated symphony of science and engineering, American willpower and know-how, technology and math in the age of the pencil and slide rule for a small spidery spacecraft to be lifted spectacularly via a 3,200-ton rocket a quarter million miles to a soft landing upon our mysterious moon. We old folks saw it and heard it firsthand and became part of the amazing epic.
O, Children, you should have been there. How we would have cheered together in that matchless moment. Cheered for the astronauts; cheered for America; cheered for each and every one of us. As it is, you must rely upon drab and colorless book-learned fact to envision the moon landing, while we old folks revel in vivid remembrance.
Yes, we old fogies remember that historic day well.
Just as he said, all of mankind leapt as Neil Armstrong took his small step.
Gary Peterson
Elgin