Where Were You When the World Changed?

Hmmm, are we posing the right question when we ask where were you when…?

I was on the 28th floor of the office tower above the Eaton’s Centre when I got the news. Not a particularly comfortable place to be when you learn that terrorists have crashed two airplanes into the World Trade Center in New York.

Companies throughout the city of Toronto let their employees go home early that momentous day. The entire Go Transit commuting population of the city descended on Union Station at the same time. The dynamics of that fearsome scenario was a subplot all on its own.

9/11 was the definitive where were you when day of our generation. It changed how we thought of the world and forever fractured our sense of security. Our lives were divided into before and after the day that we could never have imagined.

On that day we learned the scale of human disaster that is possible when ideology loses all perspective.

But 9/11 does not stand entirely alone. There have been other where were you when days for our generation.

January 28, 1986: The space shuttle Challenger exploded and disintegrated killing all seven crew members less than two minutes after launch. The root cause was the failure of an O-ring seal in a rocket booster.

On that day we learned that the twist of fate that determines our destiny may well arise from something small and apparently insignificant.

August 14, 2003: A software bug in an alarm system resulted in a widespread power outage that blacked out Ontario and parts of Northeastern and Midwestern United States. It was two days before power was restored to everyone.

On that day we learned that we are frighteningly dependent on computers and software. Ironically, the cascading effect of the blackout was an analogy for how interrelated our lives are in a world where so many do not see beyond their Blackberry screen.

December 22, 2013: An ice storm left half a million people without power in Ontario and Quebec. In the worst hit areas, there was an inch of ice accumulation on the ground. It took up to two weeks to restore power to everyone affected.

That day we learned that our sophisticated infrastructure – the testament to our apparent mastery of the world in which we live – is no match for the natural elements when weather systems collide in unpredictable ways.

These unforgettable days become iconic metaphors for how fragile our grip on life really is. The more we try to assert control over our world, the more we learn how vulnerable we are.

Could it be that the defining question is not Where Were You When?, but rather Where Are You Now – and is that where you really want to be? After all, today may be all we really have.

~ Michael Robert Dyet is the author of “Until the Deep Water Stills – An Internet-enhanced Novel” – double winner in the Reader Views Literary Awards 2009. Visit Michael’s website at www.mdyetmetaphor.com or the novel online companion at www.mdyetmetaphor.com/blog .

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