I was oblivious to what was happening, I guess. I was 7 years old at the time and
don't remember anything then. I do remember going into the 2nd grade later that
fall and our teachers "herding" all of the 1st and 2nd graders into one small room
to watch a film that they had just purchased (the moon landing / walk).
I remember thinking that this must be something big because all of us were squeezed
into this small room and the teachers were all standing along the sides of the room
and in the back--whispering and talking with excitement. We were watching a
"movie" during school...and this was WAY before videos in the classroom!! As I
watched, I was amazed but still unsure of what the importance was to me.
I do remember (as I grew up) hearing my parents, their friends, and others talking
about the "hoax of the moon walk." Many of them were just not buying into the
situation---and looking back at the issues surrounding the "times"--- Kennedy
assassination / conspiracy, UFOs in Roswell, etc.--- I think they were seriously
doubting that any of this actually happened and that it was a "diversion" to get
people looking at something else rather than analyzing the government problems.
I don't think I ever doubted the events, but I did goof around with one of my
student library workers when I was teaching at the university level about 6 years
ago. I asked him to PROVE any evidence of the first moon landing and he did some
serious research (all of which I denied or excused as a hoax). I had him doing
research for about a month before I admitted that I didn't believe in the hoax--he
was a good sport about it --and learned how to do some great research online and
through the databases. (He had some good research that supported his points and I
told him so....) He's now studying to be a lawyer (his wife is an MLIS
librarian--also a student worker of mine who was studying art and decided to become
a librarian...I'm so proud of them~). Everytime I see the replay of the moon walk
or hear about the "hoax", I think about the "research assignment / experiment" and
realize how far we've come in 40 years....and how impossible it seemed for a
generation that was on the edge of a technology revolution. It must have been TOO
much like "science fiction"...but then who would have imagined cloning, global
satellite positioning, the Internet, and all of the advancements we've made since
then!
~Shonda
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