40 Years Ago Today

That’s one small step for man, one great leap for mankind.

What did he just say?

I think he said one small step for a man…

No, he said one small step for MAN one great leap for MANKIND. What’s the difference?

Between Man and Mankind?

Not a whole hell of a lot. There you have it. The immortal words of the first man on the moon. It’s small, no wait, it’s big.

I think he meant it’s small for a single man.

Then he should have SAID that.

Maybe there was some static?

I knew Armstrong would screw this up! It should have been me. I would have said something that would have blown the world’s mind!

What would you have said?

This is Buzz Aldrin. We just “Buzzed” the moon.

Oh.

What? You don’t like it?

It’s a little…silly? And it’s more about you than it is about humanity.

Well, I’ve only been thinking about it for a second. It’s been Neil’s thing to think about for forever, and he just blew it.

Sounds to me like you’ve been thinking about it for longer than a second.

This is one big "Buzz" for a Buzz, and an even bigger "Buzz" for mankind! No, that’s terrible.

Well…

Okay okay okay, I’ve got it. This is the moon. This is man on the moon. Ladies and gentlemen, we’ve “Buzzed” it.

Maybe you should skip the “Buzz” thing.

Well the first part’s got this beautiful simplicity.

It is simple.

No wait, how about this? One world, one moon, now a man from that world has walked on that moon, and here we are people, on the moon. At least I am. On the moon. Wait, let me write this down…

You might be on to something…One world, one moon….

Okay! It’s a world. A whole other world. A moon. And the world we live on has just...stepped on that other world. Wow, that’s even worse than what I had before. What was I saying before?

One world, one moon…

One world, one step, and now one man has stepped on the moon, and now one world has stepped on another world. It’s been “Buzzed.”

You’ve got to lose the “Buzzed” business, but you’re getting close.It kind of sounds like…planets with feet, though.

That’s it! Feet! This is one small foot, stepping on the moon, but one giant foot for a planet! Huh? Huh?

Um…

Okay forget it. This is one small foot for a step, but one awesome step for the foot of mankind!

Well, it’s kind of academic. It looks like Neil wants you to go out there now.

Oh man, if I’d been the first to go out there, I’d have come up with something.

Well, you can dwell in some kind of magnificent desolation, or you could enjoy being the second man on the moon. It’s still pretty great you know. I just get to sit in the capsule.

What was that?

I said it’s still pretty great to be the second…

No, before that.

I said you could dwell in your…

Magnificent…what was it?

Desolation, I think.

You know, that’s pretty good! Okay! Here I go!

Have fun Buzz! Congratulations!

--Dan Kilian
--------------------------------------- Mars Capsule
--------------------------------------- July 4th, 1777