It Is My Time To Remember
It is Wednesday, September,11, 2019, a day where American throughout the continent in general and in New York city in Particular, perhaps the world at large, remember a day where hearts stopped, blood spilled, cries of disbelief, answered by the heroic acts of so many: American and many inhabitant of our world.
In remembrance of those who had fallen, and those who have given their lives for the safety and comfort of others, we pray for them and their families, above all we pray for the survival of our beliefs and our way of life.
Siting there around my kitchen table, a wine glass by my side, I looked through the wine glass, I saw an image that I knew sooner or later would be mine- a vision of someone who saw life beyond the present. Perhaps such a vision was seen by those who gave their life for ours.
Further from the kitchen table, in the dinning room, there stood an unopened, chilled bottle of Veuve Cliquot ( Rose), a gourmet Plaza Osetera Caviar, neither opened, just there to remind me of time past, a time where I would celebrate with a group of my PhD students at Clark University, the success of one of their colleagues of being the recipient of the PhD in Economics, which I had chaired the doctoral theses.
So many years, so many PhD students I had chaired their doctoral theses and brought them to successful conclusion; so much champayne celebrations that followed..
My own daughter, as was the case was my students, was celebrated along with her professors there at the house; she was celebrated as the recipient of PhD in Political Science from Brown University. There at the same dining room we have gathered with her professors and my own doctoral students to celebrate another achievment; the award of a political science PhD to my own daughter.
I left the kitchen, with the vision of two events: a sad and unforgettable event,yet, with a heart full of gratitude for those who offered their life to defend our constitutionals values and the freedom the constitution affords us. The second vision is about the knowledge I was lucky enough to accumulate, and, for the qualities I was endowed with which enabled me to be a good thinker and a successful educator.
Passing the dinning room, I went to my study, where I sat wondering about the probability of survival; my own survival was the one I had to contemplate.
I recalled a note I have written to myself following a wonderful and heart worming event: Clark University dedication of the" Attiat F. Ott 'Seminar Room" : the seminar room where I have taught all my PhD students their Macroeconomic Theory, and conducted my Public Economics Seminar.
The dedication, acknowledged my contribution to graduate education at Clark University, and the Chairing during my tenure of of 53PhD dissertations in the fields of Macro Economics and Public Economics, bringing them all to successful conclusion
I recall coming home after an unforgettable celebration, that I stood there by my desk and subconsciously wrote on my calendar the following words: "From a Line to a Point".
Today; the September 11, 2019, I revisit what I had put down that far back.
As an educator, seeker of knowledge, I would do no less than search for the probability of ONE specific event, everything else remains the same ,calculating such a probability , all pertinent variables had to onsidered. Unfortunately, we seldom,if ever possess such a knowledge.
After so much reading about the likelihood of the occurrence of that Specific Event, I have decided on the wisdom of a saying I have learned as a child in a french school a long time ago; a saying that was popularized in a song by a very popular American actress: "QUI SERA, SERA".
May be that how one should look at the future!
