Neil Armstrong said his famous line on July 20th 1969
“One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”
I think he blew the line.
I was a 19 year-old Lifeguard on a very crowded and silent Grand Beach. It was a perfect Manitoba summer’s day. Not a cloud in the sky. Not a puff of wind. 5,000 people on the beach. Nobody in the water.
Walking along the waterline was the only option for this Lifeguard because white and pink bodies were laying like a forest of pink cordwood side by side by side. Every one of them laying on towels and blankets with their heads towards transistor radios.
I stopped when Armstrong’s voice echoed his famous line. On that entire crowded beach I was the only one standing.
Nobody moved.
5,000 people all held their breath.
When Armstrong finished his line, the whole beach exhaled.
After a while slowly people got up, dusted off the beach-sand, and then walked into the water. Here and there somebody would be standing quiet, shading their eyes from the sun, looking up into the sky.
Rick Ranson 