Posted on 08/28/2012 6:20:39 AM PDT by shortstop
As long as mankind is a species of sentience and technology, as long as history is kept and read, the name of Neil A. Armstrong will be known.
It will be Columbus and Magellan and Armstrong, each leapfrogging the other in the innate human impulse to explore, remembered as long as man remembers.
Whether man walked out of Africa or was kicked out of Eden, he went where he’d never been, and his descendants did the same until the earth was peopled and the heavens were challenged.
Some walked across the Bering Strait, others rowed through the nothingness of the south Pacific, or hiked over mountains and swamps and deserts. We conquered this earth and Neil A. Armstrong was the first to conquer beyond.
And history will wonder at the way we ignored his passing.
When the names Romney and Obama have moldered into meaninglessness, school children will still learn the name of Armstrong and be inspired by what he did. His will be one of the greatest names of our era, one of the greatest men to ever live.
This man should have a state funeral.
This man should lie in state in the Capitol.
This man should have been afforded something other than the slightest of half-staff honors.
Yesterday, the president ordered the America flags at federal properties to be flown at half- staff on Friday, the day Neil A. Armstrong is buried.
That seems like a nice gesture, but it is such a slight gesture as to be insulting.
When Obama himself dies, for example, the flag will be lowered for 30 days. The Chief Justice of the United States, or the Speaker of the House, would get 10 days, and if a member of the president’s cabinet were to die, the period of respect would be from the day of their death until the day of their burial.
If a member of Congress dies, the flags are lowered the day they die and the day that follows.
And the first man to walk on the moon gets half that.
It is an honor, but not really.
And it is emblematic of the disrespect being shown this hero in his death. He chose to live humbly, we have chosen to bury him ignobly.
Part of it could be that the one time he spoke up in criticism of a federal policy in all the years since he walked on the moon was just recently, when he harshly criticized the current president for essentially ending America’s manned space flight program.
Obama gets his revenge, but history will have the last say.
And history will understand what we cannot.
Six hundred million people around the world watched this man climb down a ladder on black-and-white television because they understood the significance of what he was doing. They knew they were witnessing history, and they wanted to be a part of it.
Today, we want no part of it.
We have lost the spine and the stones necessary to go new places, to solve hard problems and reach great heights. We are more concerned about not interrupting the welfare cheese than we are about being men and truly exploring.
We have been castrated by a new way of thinking and doing. Neil A. Armstrong rode a rocket of American might, but today’s NASA has specifically denounced any more all-American flights.
It would be arrogant for America to go to Mars or the Moon alone, NASA has said, so we would only go as part of a coalition.
Neil A. Armstrong’s coalition was him and Buzz and an army of crew-cut engineers.
While today’s space exploration consists of landing our seventh rover on the surface of Mars, and politely ignoring the fact that the Spanish weather equipment doesn’t work, the exploration of Armstrong’s era involved creating whole new technologies to go to a whole new place.
Perhaps we have ignored the passing of Neil A. Armstrong because we cannot live up to the legacy of Neil A. Armstrong. Perhaps looking back at him and his era makes us look weak and useless by comparison.
You don’t know how puny you are until you stand next to a giant, and Neil A. Armstrong was a giant. For what he did, and for what he represented.
And now he is gone.
And perhaps he took our soul with him.
Perhaps it’s been downhill since 1969.
He will inspire future generations, but mostly he is shaming ours.
By reminding us of who we used to be.
When the names Romney and Obama have moldered into meaninglessness, school children will still learn the name of Armstrong and be inspired by what he did. His will be one of the greatest names of our era, one of the greatest men to ever live.
Neal or Lance?.........
I would include Lewis & Clark in that pantheon as well.
Why doesn’t the Republicans have a memorial service for the guy. They have the microphone for the next three days. Use it for some good. There are two stories hogging up the airwaves....the storm and the GOP. Nothing else is going on.
Yesterday, the president ordered the America flags at federal properties to be flown at half- staff on Friday, the day Neil A. Armstrong is buried.
I told everyone that Armstrong would get his flag day at 1/2 staff. Nobody believed me but I knew it 100 percent. Right again. Someday you guys will at least believe 1/2 what I say.
I disagree with this article. I’ve done google searches on his death and followed twitter. I was amazed at even the young celebrities who chimed in on his death.
Even the BBC had shows talking about him and all over the world. Armstrong wouldn’t want any fanfare at all.He would not want a state funeral. He truly felt he was doing his job, doing what he loved and was just fortunate to be at the right place at the right time.
Just because CBS NBC or ABC doesn’t do a big story doesn’t mean anything. They are irrelevant.
Funny thing about Armstrong...He’d probably look at all this fuss and say “nahhhhhhh”...
But he’d say it in a way that could be written down for the ages to learn from...
There was economy of effort in the things he said and did in his lifetime, and that is a lesson in and of itself...
IIRC, you could go back and look at the medical telemetry and when the 1200 series of alerts came from HOUSTON to the Eagle about those concerns...
I believe his heartrate stayed normal...I stand to be corrected,but that is what I remember of a little side story years ago...
But hey...He was not alone in that effort either...There was another guy there in that lander...And he lost a pretty good friend there...
Good question.
The death of Neil Armstrong wasn’t ignored. The second he died, and for some time thereafter, this was the lead story on every newsbreak, on every tv screen news crawler, etc. I heard it, I saw it, it was dominant.
What happened is that people have gone on from there in a somewhat understated way, not like Kennedy, King, etc being assassinated. The circumstances of Armstrong’s death at 82, from heart disease, wasn’t shocking. He had lived as long as his body was able, so he passed from this life, and his enormous achievement was noted.
Beyond that, where would you go? Neil Armstrong was very understated and hated personal publicity. The man would not want anything more than what he received. He was PAINFULLy against anything more than that in life, and no doubt, in death.
In point of fact, I have always been astounded by how very little homage was given to the Mercury and Apollo astronauts. I would guess that 99% of Americans could have run into Alan Shepard or Neil Armstrong at the grocery store, and never recognized them. 50% of Americans alive today probably couldn't even tell you who they were, if provided the name.
He hates white boys and their achievements.
I am not being facetious.
Nothing is allowed now unless it includes females and minorities.
Greatness is done, and will be eradicated from history; look at Columbus for object lesson #1.
Just like the arch-bureaucrats want it.
Lewis and Clark were American heroes but they are scarcely known anywhere else.
Actually Armstrong was probably the only legitimate first. The Vikings, at a minimum, preceded Columbus and Magellan died prior to circling the globe.
Other than another excuse to put his ugly face in a picture, the kenyan usurper has yet to figure out how to capitalize on a True American Hero who was humble. Therefore, ignoring him so that Hussein remains the center of attention, is the strategy.
“Neal or Lance?.........”
...haf mast for losing his Tour de France trophies? In an Obama world, it makes sense.
He was a humble man.
He did not crave the limelights or the fortune and fame.
He is remembered by those he inspired and will always do so...........
In our celeb-ri-world it sure would...........
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