Coming up for a breath of air

To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose ...

Two days of infamy distant in time

Where were you on the morning of September 11, 2001?
 
I was asleep in a motel room far, far from home when the telephone rang to awaken me.

"Are you watching television?" the voice on the other end asked?

"No, I am sort of asleep," I replied. "At least I was before you woke me up."

"Turn it on .... a plane just crashed into the World Trade Center."

The conversation went on for a while longer and I did turn on the television and I watched the screen in rapt fascination for the next few hours.

Where were you on the morning of December 7, 1941?

Unless reincarnation is real and I was in another body, I have no idea where I was because it was well before my arrival on planet earth.

I was an adult man, alive and well, in 2001. It is easy to remember where I was and what I was doing when Islamic terrorists hijacked four passenger jetliners and used them as weapons of mass destruction. The attacks killed 2,996 people and injured more than 6,000 others.

Since I was not yet here in 1941, I have to rely on history books and the memories of others to know what happened when Japan attacked United States military bases in the Hawaiian Islands and elsewhere.

 

Today, the anniversary of that attack, is recognized as Pearl Harbor Day. According to statistical data, 1,998 U.S. Navy personnel, 109 Marines, 233 Army personnel and 48 civilians were killed when Japanese military forces attacked a number of U.S. military bases at and near Pearl Harbor. On the other side of the international dateline, Japan also struck American bases in the Philippine Islands. Many deaths .... many, many, many ....

I hope you will spend a few moments reflecting on life and death today and thinking of those who died both on December 7 in 1941 and on September 11 in 2001 .... as William Shakespeare said through the voice of Macbeth:

"Out, out, brief candle! Life's but a walking shadow ....

The best laid plans of mice and men ....

Some excursions go exactly as planned; some do not. Mine did not this time. I am not home yet, and I really am not certain when I will be .... hopefully, before Christmas. I guess I am what might be called "coming up for a breath of air" with this post.

Now, I will fade away into the shadows for a while once more .... take care and stay safe until our paths cross again ....