From the Earth to the Moon

Our parents or your grandparents followed, in the old way, the arrival of man on the Moon, on television, that July of 1969. We called him “man”, because we used the generic to mean “humanity” or “human being”, but also because the astronauts who stepped on it were men. We remember their names and their words. Those of Neil Armstrong: “That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind”. The rocket was called Apollo 11 (the name of the god of medicine and masculine beauty).

On Wednesday, our children and your grandchildren did not follow, breathless, the broadcast of the launch of the new arrival on the Moon. This time it will be a small step for man and woman, because the crew of Artemis II (name of the goddess of hunting and chastity) is made up of four crew members, men and women, not just of white race. Or, in short, it will not be any step, because they will not step on it. They talked about it on the weekend radio, but it feels like “everyone doesn’t know about it”, this. It’s not bar talk, not dinner conversation.

Perhaps it is that we have already lost any capacity for surprise. Perhaps it is that cats, children, and the elderly are the ones who are surprised, who have surprise as a way of life. Teenagers and young people have just forgotten it and still have a long way to go to learn it again. Perhaps it is that we live in a world where nothing surprises us anymore. I have always thought that humanity is obligated to the space race. But I have no doubt that Donald Trump, at this point, is already calculating which resort he will build up there, with his son-in-law as foreman.

On Wednesday there was a beautiful Moon, very round, perfect for planting. Thinking that a rocket was heading there gave me shivers alone, which is how I always get shivers lately. I thought of Neil Armstrong's other quote: “The Moon is a good place to be. I recommend it”.