Author:
Skip
[ Edit | View ]
|
Date Posted: 21:01:02 09/04/12 Tue
>Here's another column I did for the paper. Granted,
>I did it last week but I've been busy and didn't think
>to put it up till just now. -- Wes
>
>-----
>
>As most of us know by now, Neil Armstrong died last
>week. There was a half moon the night he died -- and
>it was as if the moon itself was at half staff in his
>honor.
>
>I suppose I could use all sorts of platitudes,
>starting with "Earth is the cradle of mankind, but
>mankind cannot live in the cradle forever." But I
>think I'll try to stay away from that.
>
>My own opinion is that back in the late sixties
>someone from the National Aeronautical and Space
>Administration made the best possible choice of the
>first man to set foot on a celestial body other than
>earth. There would have been other choices; others
>could have been first -- but he honored the
>accomplishment better than any of the other candidates
>of the time would have been likely to have managed.
>
>Neil Armstrong was a very private man, very
>self-effacing. He preferred to let his actions speak
>for themselves.
>In an era when we're almost paralyzed by floods of
>publicity, of talking heads, of politicans and public
>figures from the entertainment world doing everything
>possible to increase their public image, Armstrong,
>who did something greater than all of them, preferred
>to turn his back on the publicity machine and let
>history be the judge. He was not a self serving
>opportunist like many I could name; he was just a
>quiet pioneer.
>I won't be around to settle it, but if I had to bet, I
>wouldn't be surprised that a thousand years from now
>the only name from the twentieth century that will be
>commonly known is his.
>
>It would have been possible for Armstrong to have made
>a career out of having been the first man to step out
>on the moon. Great amounts of fame, fortune, political
>honors and adulation were his for the asking. He
>turned his back on all of them: to have capitalized on
>the accomplishment or to allow him to be used by
>others for those purposes would have only cheapened
>it. That shows just how great a man he truly was. He
>never sought to make a profit from having been the
>first man on the moon, for he saw it as an
>accomplishment for all mankind, and he was just the
>representative of it.
>
>For the rest of his life, he just remained modest,
>self-effacing man he had always been. He became a
>college professor, teaching aeronautics, and from the
>reports I've heard he did a great job of it. People
>that knew the intensely private man have said that he
>was very personable, and had a great sense of humor.
>I have heard it said that more than half the people
>alive today were not yet born when Armstrong stepped
>off the Lunar Excursion Module for the first time. We
>have moved past the days of that driving dream, of the
>bright and shining goal that Apollo 11 represented,
>and we are the poorer for it.
>
>It was somewhat buried in the news stories of the last
>few days, but the closing paragraph of the statement
>from his family I think deserves wider play that it
>has received:
>
>"As much as Neil cherished his privacy, he always
>appreciated the expressions of good will from people
>around the world and from all walks of life.
>
>"While we mourn the loss of a very good man, we also
>celebrate his remarkable life and hope that it serves
>as an example to young people around the world to work
>hard to make their dreams come true, to be willing to
>explore and push the limits, and to selflessly serve a
>cause greater than themselves.
>
>"For those who may ask what they can do to honor Neil,
>we have a simple request. Honor his example of
>service, accomplishment and modesty, and the next time
>you walk outside on a clear night and see the moon
>smiling down at you, think of Neil Armstrong and give
>him a wink."
Great column, nuf said about a great man.
|
Feedback: 