Monday, August 27, 2012

The Passing of Neil Armstrong


    It’s no secret that space exploration is very important to me, so the death of a champion, not for nation but for Humanity, saddens me.  However, I think not of his death, but his achievements on your and my behalf.  And the light he held should guide us forward.  Showing in the strongest possible way (for his time) that humanity is more than a simple ape, more than hand-molded mud, more than a simple collection of chemistry.  We, as a species, have harnessed fire, shaped earth, produced Beethoven, and thanks in large part to Armstrong, stood on the surface of another world.  Dreamers and doers, we struggle against our biology, to rise above our primitive fears, face, understand, and glory in the wonder of reality.


    For a time, Neil Armstrong carried the torch of human progress.  He carried our hopes and our dreams, and for just a moment, we were all up there with him.  From our ignoble, primordial beginnings to the surface of the Moon, we made our mark and he was our pen.  It falls to every one of us to make sure that his efforts, and those of all our ancestors, have not been without cause.  We must rise up.  We must not stand on the beach when the ocean is in front of us.


    The man will be missed, but his achievements will remain.  And his spirit of adventure and wonder will continue with us to the stars.




-Matt

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