It was a nice break last Saturday to take all the audio’connells to the beach up in Canada for a party. The weather was great and it was a real treat to see everyone.

Around dinner time, I heard my oldest mention that her Aunt had told her that a famous hero had died earlier in the day and that my oldest “should blow a kiss to the moon tonight and say thanks”.

I was startled on many fronts when she said that in response to the news that was later clarified for me: Commander Neil Armstrong had died.

I was five years old on that July night when Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed their lunar module on the surface of the moon. And I vaguely remember being awoken that night and brought downstairs into our living room to watch it on TV. My Dad was pretty excited and I didn’t quite understand why.

This past Saturday, I fully understood what Armstrong’s passing meant and I wondered if others did…especially younger people for whom Shuttle travel had become more or less taken for granted, with some tragic exceptions.

So when I found this blog post about the graphic tributes to Armstrong that had been posted online from various artists, I was just so heartened. I hope you enjoy each of them as much as I did (and still do, looking at them for this post).

These artists understood (maybe some remembered…not all artists are young afterall) who this man and his fellow team members were and what they meant to science, the United States and the world.

Their appreciation may have sparked greater appreciation by those who previously hadn’t been as thoughtful. That’s my hope, anyway.

I know there was a lot of Facebook tribute art when Steve Jobs died but, for all he accomplished, Jobs was not a hero. He was not in my opinion, a true pioneer. Those artists were sincere in their tributes but their subject did not have “the right stuff”.

That hero category is a lean one that people like Michael Collins, Sally Ride, John Glenn and their ilk deserve.

They had everything to lose…and because of how their work could help others, they did it anyway.

Tags: commentary, requiescat in pace // Comments Off on requiescat in pace neil armstrong