These three events, A, B, C, increase in importance, A, B, C. That is what I think of these three. The first step on the moon, I watched it, I was 20 years old, a friend of mine was having a party that night and we were going to watch this great event on the TV. then Neil Armstrong walked down the ladder and said something like, "That is one small step for man, one giant step for mankind." And at the time I was impressed, even though it just kind of looked like it was just done in a studio in Hollywood, there was no way anyone could prove that was the moon. Now when I was 20, I was impressed, but I am not impressed any more, because 11 or 12 men have walked on the moon since then and what good has it done for humankind? Nothing. It hasn't done any good for humankind at all. In fact, billions of dollars were spent just to have a bit of a leisurely walk on the moon.
Ok, now the second one, the fall of the Berlin Wall, well that is more significant, isn't it? That is something that happened in this world that created a shift for a lot of people that were, we could say, suppressed. It meant that they now had more freedom to decide what they will do or believe. And of course it wasn't just for them, it followed for all of Eastern Europe and communist USSR, if you remember that name.
Then of course the leaving of the palace by the Buddha, that is why we are here. We are so fortunate that he did that, we are so fortunate that he had a determination factor, that he had compassion for all of us. Which is way beyond anything else that we could talk about in the sense of Berlin Wall falling or walking on the moon. This is an act that created massive Kammic results for the benefit of humankind. So when we think of these three things, and when you think of what you personally feel is a great event, you might put it into perspective as to what did it really do for humankind.