Giant Leaps for Mankind

One of Carter's last assignments for Social Studies this year was listing the top 10 major news events in U.S. history. Not as easy as it sounds.

In the mind of my fifth-grader anyway, wars ranked right up there along with the recent presidential election. He may not grasp the importance the creation of the assembly line or the discovery of penicillin, for example, have played in our lives.

And what about man landing on the moon?

It was 40 years ago today that Neil Armstrong first set foot on the dusty lunar surface, announcing it was a small step for a man but "a giant leap for mankind."

I was only a year old so I don't remember that any more than Carter (at age 3) recalls 9/11. But it is kind of special to say this event or that event happened in our lifetimes.

I may not recall the moon landing, but I do have vague recollections of the deaths of Elvis and Colonel Sanders (I know, weird), and clear memories of Ronald Reagan's shooting, the 1980 Olympics and the "Miracle on Ice," Mary Lou Retton 4 years later, the day the Space Shuttle Challenger blew up, both wars in Iraq and Sept. 11, 2001.

I'm not old enough to recall the Nixon scandal. I wasn't here for JFK's last day. That's why we count on the generation before us to tell us how it was to be there or see it or hear about it or experience history in their own way.

Just as my parents have shared stories with me, I've shared them with Carter and Carter will someday tell his kids those important events in history which, for him, will probably include his inside-the-park homerun in the summer of 2007. There was a whole lotta leaping for mankind (mostly joy) that day!

Gotta love history.