Moon Memories & Storage Units

When Precious History Is Left To The Young, Distracted, & Uninformed

The other day, I watched a young and successful YouTube celebrity go through a storage unit he purchased for just under three thousand dollars. Since the unit was once owned by an American astronaut, it peaked my interest. My dad had worked side by side with the astronauts back in the Apollo days, and I was anxious to see what would be uncovered. It’s anybody’s guess why the unit had been abandoned. Perhaps the astronaut had died. Chances are this loss came about due to some terrible misfortune, so I felt sad for the original owner.

When the influencer and his buddies slid open the unit door, I could tell at first glance that what they had discovered was a treasure trove of carefully packaged collectables. Well sadly, these twenty something’s apparently saw differently, trying their hardest to write-off much of what they saw as toss-worthy junk.

“It’s all so dirty,” one guy complained, while another skittishly opened boxes, fearing a spider or rat might jump out. Though fully grown men, these three might as well have been ten-year-olds. I’ve heard studies stating that the testosterone levels in today’s males has drastically dropped over the years, and one would believe it here, where all that was missing in this scene were dinosaur-print jammies.

Not only where these guys oblivious to the gravity of the moment, but their appreciation and knowledge of history was also sadly lacking. Picking up a sealed tube, the video host hastily unrolled a perfectly preserved poster which looked to be from the early vaudeville era, and after creasing the image, he promptly threw it into the trash. His buddy then said, “You know, that might have been worth something.” Upon seeing this, I buried my head in my hands in frustration. These guys should figure that an astronaut would most likely not seal something in a tube for no good reason. I just wished I could have been there to slow them down. Even after finding a gold Rolex watch, the three refused to believe it could be real. Becoming ever frustrated, I barked at the video, “Yes guys, someone of this man’s stature could very well have owned a Rolex, so for the love of God, please handle it carefully!”

I cringed again, after seeing them toss a set of rare coins onto the concrete floor. It was just so sad to think of the care the astronaut had taken to preserve his stash of historic items, only to have them treated so cavalierly by wacky YouTube entertainers with little knowledge of how to handle fragile memorabilia. On the other hand, and in fairness, I am also well aware of the pressures on these content providers to contrive action in order to keep audiences interested. This is why many “content-kids” resort to throwing and breaking things in their videos as a way of keeping their ever distracted viewers awake and focused. So, at least I have an *understanding* of the motivation behind the disturbing style I was witnessing.

Next, the guys opened some totes filled with historic photos and space-flight documents. When pulling out a large photograph of the Apollo lunar module, to my astonishment, none of the three knew what the shiny vehicle was, with one guessing that it might be some type of Russian spacecraft! Here you have one of the greatest events in the history of the world being lost on a new generation. It all had my head spinning.

Soon they came upon a notebook filled with trading cards, with the opening pages featuring a man who many consider to be the greatest baseball pitcher of all time. “Nolan Ryan,” read one of the guys, “That name sounds kind of familiar. I bet these are worth something,” he said while carefully flipping through the pages. Though sad to think that even the memory of Nolan Ryan could be forgotten, I breathed a sigh of relief, as it finally seemed to dawn on these gentlemen that what they were uncovering held great potential value.

To their credit, the guys finally slowed down and carefully set aside many important items. One basketball card alone was later found to be valued at over $6,000.

Though I’ve done nothing but criticize these entertainers, in truth, they are actually very talented at commentary and other things they do before the camera. This one event, though, just happened to get under my skin. Perhaps it was because of my dad’s connection to the space program or maybe it’s out of concern that new generations appear to be losing appreciation for some of our nation’s greatest accomplishments.

Our world continues to change, and for good or bad, I will continue to illuminate both fascinating and frustrating changes as I see them happen.