Big Steps and Small Steps

Neil Armstrong, when he set foot on planet Moon said, “That’s one small step for man, but one giant leap for mankind.” It was a momentous event, one of great significance, heralding the exploration of the universe by man. Some time in the future, men and women will surely walk on Mars and explore further into space.

Neil Armstrong and “Buzz” Aldrin had landed their space capsule on the Sea of Tranquillity.

In our own lives we have those small steps that, in fact, accumulate to become giant leaps. There are days, hours, minutes and seconds when, with the aggregate of events, much is accomplished. For me, there was one such occasion yesterday, when after a 6 hours gluing session, my Paradox sailing boat at last resembled a real boat – albeit, without a bottom, a deck or a cabin. Until that moment to the untutored eye she would have been nothing more than a collection unrelated articles.

Figuratively speaking, for the boat builder, the process of building a vessel is a series of small steps, which, when linked together, become giant leaps, until finally, there are no more leaps and the boat is finished. Then, like the American astronauts when they touched down on the Moon’s Sea of Tranquillity, the boat builder can triumphantly declare, “The Eagle has landed.”