Men on the moon - The power of optimism

HISTORY all too often shows us the darker side of humanity; too often it records a litany of atrocities and of betrayals, too often a catalogue of suppression, inhuman injustice and terrible brutality.

However – and what a joy that however is – today we mark the 40th anniversary of one of man’s greatest achievements.

Forty years ago today American astronaut Neil Armstrong became the first man to step on the moon.

There are few peacetime victories for human determination, curiosity, invention, endeavour, courage, unity of purpose, political vision and leadership and, most of all, optimism, to match that distant achievement.

President John Kennedy’s speech, in Houston in 1962, in which he announced that America would put a man on the moon within a decade remains one of the greatest peacetime challenges given to a nation.

To paraphrase Kennedy: “We do this not because it is easy but because it is hard ...”

History can hardly teach us a lesson more appropriate to our times and our difficulties.