The day my mind exploded.
I saw it on a fuzzy black and white television from across a crowded primary school assembly hall. I knew something very important had happened during the night and now the entire school was squirming and jostling on the hard timber floor, straining to get a look at… whatever that something was.
It was just a blur, ghostly smudges bounding around a black landscape.
This was not a feast for the eye, but for the mind. It shattered my assumptions about what was possible, challenged my beliefs about humanity and gave me a future to believe in. It shaped my personality, it determined my worldview.
That one small step blew my nine-year-old mind into so many pieces I was never the same again. Because from that moment on, I knew that people could accomplish just about anything if they really put their hearts and minds to it.
Even after 50 years that realisation continues to power my faith in human creativity and ingenuity. It drives my respect for science and rationality and my unshakable conviction that the future is whatever we make it.
Thank you Apollo, for teaching me who and what we really are.
If you enjoyed this article, by all means leave a 'like' if you wish but to be honest, it'd mean so much more to me if you shared these thoughts with others. If you don't enjoy these posts I welcome your feedback and suggestions... and I hope you feel free to comment either way!
Mindworker, Minds at Work
5 年Thanks for the comments everyone! Even though I have a pretty good grasp of the science that made this thing possible it still amazes me that it actually happened which is why I can sympathise with the conspiracy theorists; their suspicions about the moon landing are a powerful indicator of just how 'unbelievable' it was.??
Exploration and mine management geologist. Member of AUSIMM, Member of EMD Indonesia
5 年It was a great feel-good day news-wise. Technology being used to achieve a milestone in human exploration. The only other major new footage that impacted my child's mind was the nightly report on the progress of the Vietnam War.
Independent Water Resources and Environmental Consultant
5 年Also ditto.? The moon landing coincided with a physics lecture so the department cancelled the lecture - probably realised no-one would show up anyway.
Exploration Consultant--
5 年i can only say ditto, Jason. we were sent home to watch because the school had too few TVs.. the buzz from the fuzzy b&w images remains. and so does the ‘we can do it if we try hard enough’ belief. cheers