54 years ago, on July 16, 1969, Mankind (to use the lingo of the time) began its greatest journey. Apollo 11, with three Americans on board, lifted up from Cape Kennedy in Florida to land two Americans on another celestial body- the moon.
The Apollo program, and the moon landing, was our greatest journey, and arguably our greatest hour. Perhaps America and the world recached the apex of humanity's achievement in July 1969.
What has happened since we landed on the moon?
We have been to war multiple times; experienced genocide on multiple continents in numerous countries; we have brought our planet to the edge of an ecological disaster, while a significant number of Americans have accepted the lies and propaganda that global warming is fake. We have rioted in our streets, shot at each other in the name of justice, and watch countless children shot and murdered simply because they went to school that morning.
We have none of the can-do spirit that united a nation behind the dream and leadership of a young president who was murdered in office. One can only now think that if the prevailing attitudes of politics existed in the 1960s, then the opposing political party would have done all it could do to stop the moon landing, just so a martyred president and his party could not claim credit for the accomplishment.
We do not live in a time when people believe they are Americans first, and then a member of their political party second. We live in a time when many people fervently believe that they would rather see the nation fail, then allow a political opponent succeed. And so we suffer with children being murdered and the world overheating.
And yet...
We are made of better stuff. We still have in our collective genes the ability of overcoming anything against any odds. We did it during Washington's winter camp at Valley Forge; we did it at the battle of Belleau Wood in France in June, 1918; We did it in the battle of Midway in 1942, in the Ardennes Forest in December 1944 and at Iwo Jima in February and March 1945. Americans, sometimes just a few, stood up to danger and tyranny and turned the tide.
We created computers, and silicon chips and Silicon Valley. We digitized our collective knowledge and, in some ways, our collective consciousness. We fought AIDS down to a manageable medical condition, and later created the COVID vaccines that corralled the virus.
Maybe July 1969 was humanity's finest hour.
And maybe it wasn't. Maybe when the story of our small blue planet is written with a conclusion, maybe July 1969 is just one of many wonderous moments. We choose to believe that there are many more to come.
But for today, let's remember this moment and rejoice that we could do this. That three brave men, with a nation behind them, could travel to the moon and that two of them could land on another celestial body and proudly declare "We Came In Peace For All Mankind".
10 comments:
"We have none of the can-do spirit that united a nation behind the dream and leadership of a young president who was murdered in office."
Because it was a lie. "Camelot" was a lie. JFK was no King Arthur. He was a struggling drug addict. Even though he gets beatified for "saving" us from the Cuban Missile Crisis, he helped cause the crisis in the first place by putting missiles in Turkey. Despite Oliver Stone portraying him as a murdered martyr for peace, Kennedy escalated the Vietnam situation with advisors, armaments, and a coup. JFK had no more "dream and leadership" than any old venal politician.
". . .a significant number of Americans have accepted the lies and propaganda that global warming is fake." Rump, you have drank the Kool Aid by the barrel. You ought to read Stephen Kinzler's Unsettled. From a scientifific point of view, he put a lie to the entire climate change canard. The book is a real eye opener.
Blogger pooh-poohs "Mankind" even though it meant everyone, because it's vitally important to use a new word to signal virtue.
Blogger wonders why the west is bogged down in nonsense and does not accomplish great feats anymore.
Great cinematic achievement but the entire thing is a fraud. Only you boomers believed it.
Funny, I was reading some climate change history and came upon this AP story in 1989. " UNITED NATIONS (AP)—A senior U.N. environmental official says entire nations could be wiped off the face of the Earth by rising sea levels if the global warming trend is not reversed by the year 2000." The Chicken Littles of climate change have come home to roost. Cry me a river.
I feel like we need to cancel the moon landing speech and frankly the entire landing because Armstrong said “mankind,” not “human kind.” The daughters of tomorrow need to know that they can walk on the moon too and that technological development is for them too, not just white straight cis men.
The comment section here is becoming like Twitter (or worse, the Broward blog comment section!) with a bunch of conspiracy theory-minded trolls flooding the replies.
12:05: Hold my beer. Vietnam was a superpower proxy contest and the policy of containment we pursued did not let him write off parts of the world. Much more importantly, though Kennedy was not allowed the time before his assassination to take full credit for the legislative agenda this country leans on so heavily even today. A lot of his laws were passed under Lyndon Johnson, putting Johnson easily in the top 5 best Presidents depending on how much credit you want to gfive Johnson for Kennedy's agenda. The Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act, the Environmental Protection Act, the Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act, Elementary and Secondary Education Act, the Economic Opportunity Act, the Immigration and Nationality Act, The Freedom of Information Act, the Public Broadcasting Act. I am out of space, but he also appointed Thurgood Marshall to the Supreme Court.
@8:48 that is an excellent parody post. Well done. So many wokey dog whistles in so few words. Titania McGrath would be proud.
nice
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