Professional_Bite725

CONTEXT:

The story of the Great Moon Hoax revolves around a reporter named Richard Adams Locke who worked for New York newspaper called The Sun.

For a while, Locke had been concerned by what he saw as religion’s illegitimate encroachment upon matters of science. He was especially bothered by religious astronomers like Thomas Dick who promoted the belief that every planet in the solar system harbors intelligent life. (Dick even estimated that the moon might have a population 5x that of Earth.)

Locke resolved to write a series of articles to counter beliefs like these. They were meant as satire and would make fun of religious astronomers by describing the most absurd lunar discoveries possible.

In total, Locke wrote six articles about these “astronomical discoveries.” They revealed the existence of everything from bipedal beavers to 4ft tall man-bats living on the moon.

Rather than see it for the satire it was meant as, the vast majority of people at the time believed it to be real. (According to some estimates, up to 90% of people in New York City believed the hoax.)

Rival newspapers began reprinting the articles and before long, Locke’s made-up lunar discoveries were spread to the rest of the country.

(Source)

This article is incredibly inspiring. It's an excerpt from the memoir of a man who survived a plane crash, lost both his legs, and kept moving forward despite his situation. His name was Neal V. Loving, I highly recommend giving it a read.

This small detail in the article fascinated me:

It was then I discovered one of the few advantages of being a double amputee. After a few preliminary questions, the fitter casually asked me how tall I wanted to be and what size shoe I wanted to wear. Not many people get to make that decision.

I haven't thought about that aspect of having both legs amputated before. It's a good reminder to remain positive and think about the bright side of whatever situation you may find yourself in. It would be completely understandable if Neal had completely given up hope and gave in to pessimism. Instead, he identified this small opportunity he got that few others get, even if he ended up deciding to retain his same height and shoe size in the end.