neil armstrong - 1930-2012

I didn't sit down and turn on the computer or the TV or the radio until about 4 this afternoon (yes, I was even missing the game!) and 30 seconds later found out that Neil Armstrong had passed.

I really don't know what to think.  I'm kind of numb.

I wasn't old enough to watch the Apollo 11 lunar landing - even a geeks have a babyhood, and since I was 16 months old at the time, I claim exemption - but I grew up with this guy as one of my heroes.  Oh, I know I talk about the fictitional ones here on my blog, but for the most part they are just that - fictional.  This guy did what only 12 others - *twelve* - have even done, and he was the first.

It's not like I actually got to meet him.  He was a very private person, and understandably avoided public events.  I don't blame him.  He was more famous than the Pope.

I heard someone say, while I was flipping channels, that this was the end of the Age of Armstrong.  When we go back to the Moon and beyond - and I seriously think that we should, and soon - and continue to explore our infinitesimally small corner of the universe, we should always carry his spirit of curiosity and courage.  He was a man.  A human.  One of us.

But in the eyes of millions, he was a real superhero.

Rest in peace, Neil, and Godspeed.



NASA / AP

 Fin.