A Fellow Ohioan

By Rich Kozlovich

Normally I wouldn't post anything about Neil Armstrong because this is a story that everyone in the country is publishing. However, Armstrong was a fellow Ohioan and he is from "Wapak", which is what people from Wapakoneta call their town. And since I have family living there I thought I should say something. I can tell you that this is truly a "small town boy makes good" story.

When my sister-in-law and her husband first moved there they still had public phones that only cost a nickel. That's right....a nickel. You could only call in town but it was still....just a nickel. I always chuckled about that; not because I thought ill of "Wapak", but it just tickled my fancy, and was indicative of how small "Wapak" really was and how close the community is.

Small towns are the same all over the country. Small towns have big relationships....literally. Once you scratch the surface you find that the percentage of residents related to each other is amazing; and personal relationships go back for generations, and are almost as binding as family. That is the kind of society Armstrong knew, understood and was foundational to forming his view of reality.

In his article, The Man From Wapakoneta, Christopher G. Adamo notes that Neil Armstrong became a hero;

 "as the institutions and beliefs that formed the heritage of the nation were being systematically dismantled by countercultural revolutionaries, those who held such things in high regard fervently sought for inspiring reminders of America’s enduring greatness."

He goes on to say that;

"the pop culture of the late 1960s had to offer in response were its own icons of social collapse, as epitomized by Bob Dylan and Abbie Hoffman. The flag was routinely being publicly desecrated, and contempt shown towards every building block of the American ideal. Nihilism and anti-Americanism appeared to be winning the day."

The reality is that these leftist icons weren't as popular as it may seem. They certainly weren't to me...I pretty much despised them, and my contempt hasn't even been moderated by age. I just finished reading the book "The Politically Incorrect Guide to The Sixty's", which made me aware that I wasn’t alone. In fact I was in the majority; by quite a lot. The media made the radicals seem like the typical student in the 60’s. The reality is the student radicals represented a very small minority who intimated weak and cowardly college administrators and educators. In fact the radicals in every aspect of American life represented a very small minority whose views and philosophy seemed to have taken over the country because the media made them bigger than life.

Neil Armstrong represented another generation much different from the baby boomers. Adamo goes on to say;

“Unlike so many among the ensuing “boomer” generation, and in stark contrast to the modern day narcissists who predominate the pop culture and more alarmingly, the highest levels of government, Armstrong was never prone to self-absorption, regarding his role as nothing other than a man doing the job he had trained to do. With the mission ended, the parades passed by, and the spotlights faded, he seemed altogether happy to return to relative obscurity."

I can attest to his unwillingness to draw attention to himself and what he accomplished. Wapakoneta decided to honor him in some parade…either as a Neil Armstrong Day or have him appear at some holiday parade…(I don't remember the details any longer) but he refused to come. Initially I thought it was arrogance, which was the case in other small towns attempting to honor a famous son. But with Armstrong it was different. The man was truly unimpressed with himself, and he just didn’t like all that attention.

The man had dignity, honor, humility; and the man had class!

I wish the other Armstrong in the news had even a fraction of his class. Actually I would like to see all the professional athletes have a fraction of Neil Armstrong’s class. 

I will say this.  Being involved in my industry's affairs I can honestly attest that the mentality and attitude displayed by Neil Armstrong is far more prevalent than we may think.  The amount of people who humbly, unassumingly, quietly work behind the scenes to defend the pest control industry; without fanfare or compensation (even for out of pocket expenses) is astounding.  Neil Armstrong represented the depth of who we are as a society and what we believe. 

And he did it so well.