Monday, July 20, 2009

Apollo 11 Moon Walk, a giant leap for Mankind

This is not a regular column and thus doesn't follow the one published yesterday. Its purpose is to commemorate the 40th anniversary of Mankind’s first footstep on the Moon and inspire all generations to follow in kind.

I will always remember where I stood at 10H56 PM EDT on July 20 1969. Only 18 at the time, I had just finished my evening shift as a lifeguard at St-Helen Island pools. With a few friends, I walked to the nearby Man and his World exposition, the aftermath of EXPO 67. On Notre-Dame Island, between the British and French pavilions, expo authorities had erected a giant screen for visitors to witness live Mankind’s first step on the Moon.

Then and there, it struck me that a generation 20 years younger had brought Mankind to the Moon. I was overwhelmed by the feeling that I was part of new generation, the baby-boomers, for which the sky was literally the limit. I’m proud to be from a generation that had, and still has, the feeling we could do anything and, above all, the will to go ahead and do it.

Yes there are problems in our world today; but there were problems in the world then, the Vietnam War and the Cold War’s nuclear sword of Damocles to name but these two. We have overcome these problems, not because we were lucky, not because we were smarter, but because we never gave up. Another world for problem is challenge. We have our creativity, we have the know-how, we have the technology, and what we do not have we can invent. So just go ahead and do it and don’t stop trying until you’ve either succeeded or deceased.

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