49 years ago today, Apollo 11 landed on the moon. Astronaut Neil Armstrong exited the landing module and walked on the lunar surface. "Buzz" Aldrin--who is still alive today--followed him. Millions of us watched this happened in black-and-white on July 20th, 1969. It was a unique moment in human history, I don't mind saying that it left an impression on me.
It's been said that the more things change, the more they remain the same. Neil Armstrong is quoted as saying, "one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind..." when he first set foot on the moon. I don't think I have ever seen anything more inspiring, it's a simple truth that makes our present-day situation seem like a step backward. All I want to say to inquisitive future historians who read this is: we forgot the lessons of our past. That's why we are repeating what looks and sounds like a chapter from the Cold War.
There's a lot going on that we here-and-now can't easily evaluate/process in the heat of this moment. It's a form of information overload, 21st Century social media and the internet as a whole overwhelm us in ways that no society has experienced before. As much as these resources encourage us to learn, they also cater to our prurient interests. It's hard to look away when so many things actively tempt us to think the worst. To be our better selves, we need to understand what's already happned and why some of it was never a good idea.
2019 marks the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11's lunar landing. Then as now, Russia is our adversary and today's elected leaders openly flirt with authoritarianism because they want to appear "strong." The old guard dies hard, we are witnessing the death of prejudices that have no place in a world where we can plan to visit Mars or go beyond our solar system. Intelligent minds and capable hands come in all shapes and sizes. Race, color, gender, and/or religion do not permit or prevent genius. For better or worse, we are what we choose to be.