It was the greatest event in the history of humankind…up to
that moment in time.
The boarding house was at the 4th floor of
Laperal apartments.
In Marawi City, there was no electricity…sorry there was but
only for the can afford few. The light in Marawi then and now is an animal that is more often dead than it is alive. When I was young, television was a distant fiction that I saw
only in the movies.
I arrived in Manila in 1968.
Our landlady rented 2 apartments facing each other’s. In one
apartment, student boarders lived and in the other, the family lived that also
served as dinning and a receiving room with yes – a television.
At 8 in the evening of July 19, 1969, (if I remember right) all
the student boarders huddled together in front of the TV. I think, it was also
the first time that a global live broadcast of any event happened. It was the
dawn of satellite global broadcasting.
By midnight, only half of the original group of about 10 were
left. The time of the landing kept changing and by 6 AM, I was the only one
left. When Armstrong finally delivered, “one small step…one giant leap for mankind,” –
it was past 7 in the morning of July 20, 1969 and I was all alone – a moment I
cherish to this day. If it was a hoax then I was a witness to the greatest hoax
in human history.
Fifty years from now…the moon will be a common tourist
destination. Human settlers will be thriving on Mars and with my youngest 14
years old daughter’s obsession with astronomy, she will probably make it to the
moon and maybe Mars – why not? Technology is no longer a creeper…it is a jumper
zooming at the speed of light. Fifty years from now, robots will be exploring
the sea of Europa and Enceladus and maybe, they would have found lives in those
water-worlds virtually stone throw away from earth.
If I live long enough to witness the first man walk on Mars –
I will sail towards the sunset with a smile on my face.
nk
No comments:
Post a Comment