Monday July 20, 2009 marked the fortieth anniversary of the “small step for man.” It felt like it was a good day to be a social studies teacher, even if it was summer school, a time when students tend to be less excited about learning about anything. I had prepared a full day of lessons on the moon landing, and was feeling pretty good about how equipped I was to teach about it when a colleague came up to me and asked, “what was the big deal about the moon landing, I mean what do you tell the kids.?”

 That simple question is very tough to answer. We all know the quote, “small step, giant leap,” but can anyone who did not witness the moon landing on television the day it happened really appreciate the degree of accomplishment of the significance of the event. I was a day shy of three years old when it happened, so I do not remember a thing about it.

 The other problem is that unless you are over 45 or so you have no event that bears a comparison. I know from reading books and watching old footage of the moon landing that the nation was unified by something positive instead of a national tragedy. In an era full of national tragedies, like political assassinations and the war in Vietnam, the moon landing represented everything good about the United States and as Armstrong aptly said it, for mankind. 

 September 11, 2001 was my generations Pearl Harbor, but my generation and younger has no moon landing. We have no lofty national goal to strive for, nothing that truly brings the entire nation together, and that is a shame because if history tells us anything, it tells us that we can accomplish anything that we set our mind to.

 In 1969, the nation needed a unifying event, because the nation was filled with turmoil and protests. The moon landing provided only a brief respite, because the height of the Vietnam War and the protest movement came later. That is not an easy sell to kids today, they cannot truly comprehend how much trouble the nation was in anymore than I can. My only advantage is that I have spent years studying the era, which gives me an insight into it, but not having lived through it means I will never fully understand the times.

 What I do know is that John F. Kennedy said in 1961 that we would put a man on the moon by the end of the century, and we did. In a history book the eight years is just a few short paragraphs, and the concept of man landing on the moon is accepted, not magical.

 Nevertheless, it was magical and amazing and I wish I remembered it.  In many ways, I am jealous of the generation that was able to witness such an amazing event when it was still amazing. I can only imagine what it would be like to see the entire nation gathered around television sets and setting aside their differences watching years of hard work pay off. I wish I knew what it was like when the nation as a whole had pride in an accomplishment that rose above politics and didn’t involve conventional warfare.
 What made the moon landing a giant leap for mankind, was that it proved when the nation worked together we could accomplish anything. Just as Lincoln professed that a “nation divided against itself cannot stand,” the moon landing proved that we were still united as a country.