Wanna blow your mind? Think about this for a second:

Forty years ago, we walked on the moon.

We put three men on top of a rocket, lit the fuse, sent them hurtling violently into space, landed them on the moon, and then brought them back again. Safely.

If that doesn't blow your mind, nothing will.

Except maybe this: Forty years later, we still consider that one giant leap to be the pinnacle of human innovation.

It's almost cliche now, but a popular response to the problems we face goes like this: “If we can land a man on the moon, why can't we …?”

Indeed, why can't we? Compared to the monumental task of visiting another celestial body, our problems are laughable. I mean, come on. Have we really convinced ourselves that we can't solve our economic crisis? Or find the time to paint the living room? Or come up with meaningful health care reform? Or save more money? Or whatever? We put a man on the moon, for god's sake. Why can't we?

But here we are, 40 years later, still talking about that historic event as the ultimate example of humankind's spirit of innovation, exploration and triumph over adversity.

Sure, we've done a lot of great things since then. We've made huge strides in the fights against a host of deadly diseases. We've completely mapped the human genome. We've built incredibly fast, immensely powerful computers that allow us to do things that, at one time, were unthinkable.

For most of us, though, the moon is the gold standard of innovation.

I hope it doesn't stay that way. I hope something comes along one day that makes going to the moon look like a walk to the park. For that to happen, we'll have to start thinking big again — and we'll need the guts to put those dreams into action.

Until then, we'll always have the moon.