911
I think every American immediately
conjures up two interpretations of these three digits.
#1. The phone number one calls in an
emergency situation.
(and)
#2. September 11th, 2001 (911) - You
know this date well; (unless you have been hiding under a rock somewhere).
However, speaking of the title of this
blog, given the length of time which has transpired since 911, it occurs to me
that there is a universal remembrance.
It has been 22 years since the
terrorist attack on the two World Trade Centers in New York City, the Pentagon,
and the ill-fated airplane which never reached its intended target.
A young person might have easily
procured a job position, and retired since those massive towers came tumbling
down, the Pentagon was left with an unsightly hole in its side, and the 40
passengers and crew of Flight 93 died in that field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
There is not only a universal remembrance,
but also a personal irony, again involving the subject of retirement, and it
has much to do with this same ghastly attack.
For you see, in 1974 I was offered a
position as a civilian personnel clerk by the Air Force Finance Office which
was located in that five-sided building outside of Washington, D.C. However,
after I walked one of the extraordinarily long hallways in that massive place,
and interviewed for the job, was officially offered the position, and was about
to accept,... I decided against it. At the time I lived in rural Virginia, a
full hour from the Pentagon, and I didn't want to devote ten hours a week
driving back and forth to a job location.
Speaking of my personal irony, it
occurs to me that had I accepted the job position in the Pentagon, I might
easily have still been working towards my retirement when the aircraft left
that gaping hole in the building, and that I might have conceivably died in the
carnage.
911. Such a universal remembrance and
such a personal irony.
by William McDonald, PhD
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