I’ve been binge-watching episodes of The Wonders Years because A. it’s an amazing show B. it’s on Netflix Instant and C. I’m working on a project that involves voice over.

Yesterday I made it to the episode where Kevin “falls in love” with Lisa-something and makes the massive mistake of telling Paul. Paul suggests he find out if Lisa likes Kevin back by asking Lisa’s neighbor, who doesn’t know but asks Lisa’s friend, who doesn’t know but asks Lisa herself. This entire exchange takes place through a chain of not-so-discrete whispers in a crowded cafeteria as Kevin (and I) watched in horror.  Poor Kevin is so humiliated that he fakes a sore throat to stay home from school the next day. But then, owing to the most mature mind a kid has ever had on or off television, Kevin decides that the way to figure out how Lisa really feels about him is to just call her up himself!  …Except it turns out that move is not as easy as it sounds the first time Daniel-Stern-from-City-Slickers says it out loud on Kevin’s behalf. It turns out Kevin is terrified. After hours of pacing, sweating and fighting with stupid Wayne about what he’s up to, Kevin chickens out. “I guess I’m not so brave after all,” Daniel Stern-as-Kevin’s-oddly-deep-voice says.

And that’s where things would have probably ended and certainly do end for 99% of girls, boys, men and women who intend to do something courageous in the name of love or like.

Except this day wasn’t like every other day for Kevin Arnold (or his fictional TV world, but specifically Kevin) because on the very night that Kevin intended to call Lisa-something, Neil Armstrong stepped foot on the moon (aka that’s how the writers decided it would go down, but stay with me on this).

Just after Kevin gave up on calling Lisa, his mom (Norma Arnold, duh) called him into the living room to watch what had to have been the most incredible thing anyone had ever seen to (that) date. And as Kevin watched the famous first moonwalk, he realized that calling Lisa-something had nothing on traveling to the god damned moon, essentially. And so, with new-found chutzpah (Kevin wasn’t Jewish on the show, but his hair certainly was), he went back into that kitchen, called that 12-year-old girl, and changed the course of his own history.

Sorry. I probably should have said SPOILER ALERT at the beginning of that section, but I promise it’s just as incredible to watch if you know what’s going to happen (probably because you totally know what’s going to happen the whole time, but still).

So this whole Kevin-and-the-moon-walk-call got me thinking about how that might play out today – or rather if that would play out today. I’m not looking to make some major commentary on the state of our society slash news cycle here, but what moments or figures or world events does a scared 12-year-old (or 30-year-old…) have to inspire them toward action? Yes, I know Kevin is a fictional character. Yes, I’m sure that scenario didn’t actually happen to a middle schooler. But metaphorically speaking, it could have, right?

And now, still mostly metaphorically speaking, you’ve got to wonder if it’s not happening because everything on the 2013 television is more depressing than it is empowering. I guarantee nobody called their girl they’ve been dying to call after Weinergate broke, or after ARod got caught or after the dozenth school shooting in as many months.

This got surprisingly dark (kind of like a Wonder Years episode!), but my point is that I wonder if the lack of heroics in the dating game these days (and, yes, these days I count calling a girl/boy as heroic) has something to do with the lack of heroics in our world. That’s a broad statement, but spend 15 minutes watching the news and you’ll get the point.

It’s sort of silly, right? Calling a girl because a man walked on the moon.

But at the same time, it sort of makes perfect sense.

…just some food for thought on a Friday afternoon. Now please excuse me while I return to my Wonder Years binge. I’m about to start Season 2, and I have a feeling things with Winnie are about to heat up then cool down, again!