Celebrating Excellence

Neil Armstrong, the First Man on the Moon died this weekend.  He achieved so much in his life and did it with humility and grace.He also acknowledged those who worked at NASA and elsewhere who helped him become such a symbol.

He was 82 and lived in Cincinnati. His death was unexpected by everyone.

He represented what Excellence is and what we can aim for.  The words he spoke when he stepped on to Moon's surface on (US date) July 20 1969 - “That’s one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind” - were beamed live across the world, (courtesy of Australian links) and immediately became a symbol of America’s resolve and ingenuity.

The Apollo Program set down by NASA was also a symbol of what excellence can be achieved when people come together for a common purpose and for high ideals.  It was not without some tough times for NASA with the loss of the lives in getting to the Moon with tragedies like the Apollo 1 fire.  Like so many things in life, you pick yourself up, look at what happened, learn from it and grow and improve.  All signs of Excellence. Excellence is not about perfection - it is about a state of being. NASA lives on the edge and continues to grow and learn; it has had more lives lost, living on the edge in the Shuttle missions that followed the Apollo Program.  A forgotten fact these days is that a Shuttle style program was planned before the Moon missions, with a staging point in orbit around the Earth; but President Kennedy changed all that.

I think we can all learn from what Neil Armstrong achieved and how his life and achievements can be admired for excellence.

Brett Lamond
26 August 2012
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Last Edit: 30 August 2012