Traveling Mercies

Be always at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let each new year find you a better man. Benjamin Franklin Peace on earth and joy to those we like. Cocktail napkin. The New Year is the perfect time for a fresh start and for building new habits. In 2011, I'm going to devote more time to personal writing. My favorite writing book, "On Writing" by Stephen King includes this quote, "The scariest moment is always just before you start." There is nothing as scary as a blank sheet of paper (or computer screen). This year, I'm going to write what I know and write what I enjoy reading about. I hope you'll enjoy it as well.

In May, 1961, before I was born, President John F. Kennedy challenged Congress and our nation to “commit itself to reaching the goal of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to earth” within the decade. On July 20, 1969, Apollo 11 landed on the moon, and Neil Armstrong, Commander of the aircraft, responded to NASA with the famous words, "Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed." Six and a half hours after landing, Armstrong uttered his famous line "That's one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind". I was seven years old that summer night and I remember with clarity watching the event on television, then going outside with my family and staring at the moon above. Forty years later, I don’t understand the logistics of building a machine that would carry men to space, nor the courage it must have taken to leave family behind and climb into such a machine, but the story of the Apollo space program has always fascinated me. Toda...