I Forgot

Yesterday was a really long day getting ready for the final push to complete the move/downsizing that we recently experienced. I had access to the internet, but it wasn't convenient. I did not watch any television. This is a good development, and it's one I hope to find a way to extend to our broader home way of living.

I woke up early this morning and headed for the airport to catch a ride down south. Due to some IT glitches, the travel agent was unable to get me ticketed, but with an hour in advance of the flight arrangements were made and we departed Baltimore just after sunrise. After clearing the clouds, I snapped this photo from my window.

Airborne shortly after sunrise - Climbing out of BWI

This photo's been doctored more than a little, so strictly speaking this is not the sight that greeted me, but it captures the mood that the scene evoked in me after clearing the clouds. The air was clear and the sky clean a blue. Multiple layers of clouds captured the light and shadow in a myriad of interesting ways. The cold front headed our way was churning the atmosphere at multiple levels. The view was glorious.  I didn't post this photo to social media because of the heavy handed filters applied. The explanation for doing what I did is not really in keeping with my social media photo philosophy where I try to render a more realistic and less artistic view of things I observe.  That "philosophy" is probably worthy of a post all its own, but I'll leave it at that for now.

On the way back down out of the sky, I glanced out the window and saw the shadow of our Airbus A321 cast on the clouds that we were rapidly descending through on our path down to Charlotte, NC.

A321 Shadow on Clouds - Descent into Charlotte, NC

Other than cropping and some light adjustments on exposure and highlights to bring out the shadow, I posted this one to Facebook. The photo very quickly racked up more commentary from a wider variety of participants than I'm normally used to seeing. It was a head scratcher, and though pretty interesting, I was initially a bit worried that this photo would not be well received at all.

The I remembered that today was the day we've been told we'll Never Forget. September 11th. Several weeks ago, I decided to fly on September 11th because I'd forgotten that fifteen years ago today the United States was attacked with airplanes in a graphic and horrific way that would shape the balance of my career in my day job from that moment to (a lesser degree) now.

It's not that this photo is particularly good or unique. It's that more people are sensitive to imagery associated with airplanes on the fifteenth anniversary of the attack on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and the heroic end to United Airlines Flight 93 in a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

I'm going to go against conventional wisdom and suggest that a bit of forgetting is good for the soul. When I look back on the last fifteen years, I'm not sure that we've made the right decisions on how to address these attacks when viewed through the prism of opportunity cost. This is little doubt in my mind that the trillions of dollars spent and the wars that have been fought in response to this attack have improved the physical safety of most of us from a martial perspective. I do wonder if we've unknowingly sacrificed security in equally important, but not so memorable or dramatic areas that we may want to consider going forward.

What's done is done, and there are folks now who are learning about this chapter of World history without having experienced the raw emotion of living through the events of the last decade and a half. Perhaps a little forgetting is in order so we all can move on and address the legion of issues that might be helped with a more balanced expenditure on security.  I don't know, but my elbow is itching a bit, and this is often a sign for me that we may want to pause and ask some hard questions.

My flights landed safely, and toward dusk I found myself in the familiar and welcome embrace of Fairhope, AL. The sunset was muted in keeping with the tone of the day, but it was beautiful nontheless.

Dusk - Fairhope, AL

We'll have to wait and see what the next fifteen years will reveal, but I'm hopeful as always that tomorrow will show us all another new set of new and adventurous challenges.  Till then, and per my usual habit, I'm looking forward to it.