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Unless you’re a trivia buff, you may not recognize the words or the song they’re taken from.  They were written by Nat King Cole and Irving Mills back in 1943. Since then, they’ve shown up in such films as “The Tuskegee Airmen” and on TV shows including a “This is Us” episode.

These words  have have been coming to my mind the past few days for a couple of  different reasons.  First, on my morning walks, I can hear my dad’s voice in my mind.  Especially when my lower back is hurting.  He’d quote that line, urging me to “straighten up,” whenever he thought my posture needed some help.

More often than not, however, it’s the second part of that musical line that’s been grabbing my attention this week.  “Fly right.” 

Watched by Milllions

I’ve been watching PBS’s “American Experience” series which has looked back at what it took for us to make the amazing journey to the moon.  Talk about efforts to fly right!

 The first research flight took place in 1943.  It would be 26 more years before the Apollo program got man onto the moon.  In 2009 NASA estimated the cost of that program. While the toll in terms of human lives, energy, imagination and determination is incalculable, the dollars spent is not. In today’s money it would be around $200 billion dollars.

This week, July 20, 2019 will mark the 50th anniversary of  America’s historic manned landing. An estimated 600 million people around the world watched it!  Before heading back to earth  astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin left a plaque on the moon’s surface for all who’ll step foot there in the future. The inscription reads: “Here Men From The Planet Earth First Set Foot Upon the Moon, July 1969 A.D. We Came in Peace For All Mankind.”

Since their return to earth, achieving peace among people of good will has become as daunting a challenge as a moon landing once was.  With new, formidable sound barriers to break. Loud disagreements rive families and friendships. Discordant tweets  divide both political parties and Congress.   Add in stratospheric-level pressures that threaten our constitution.

There’s a lot at stake on the horizon.

Consider

To straighten up the attitudes and actions now affecting mankind, what one small step could  each of us take this week?

Note:  The first picture above is one  of a place where I often stop to reflect. I call it “Pond Placcid.” The second is from the pbs.org website and the last three photos are historic ones available on the Internet.