Where I was on this day twice in history

2020-07-18

Where I was on this day twice in history

I used to sometimes envision myself at some historical event. In a moment of fantasy I would simply speculate regarding the intimate details of such goings on and it was insigificant to me personally as well as being neither here nor there.

Two items which come to mind are:

1976 when Nadia Comăneci became the first person in Olympic Games history to score a perfect 10 in gymnastics at the 1976 Summer Olympics and in

1984 with the McDonald's massacre in San Ysidro, California where James Oliver Huberty opens fire, killing 21 people and injuring 19 others before being shot dead by police.

In 1976 I was in class at the Recruit Training Command in Orlando Florida. I don't recall the topic, it was some navy specific information being disseminated and the instructor came in spouting off game scores and other sports news to the delight of the rest of those in my company. After a number of scores, stats, and team commentary — which amazed me by the way, he went on to the olympics and the Nadia Comăneci tidbit. So that's where I was during that historical event.

The 1984 event was much more proximal to me in that I was returning from a visit to Tiajuana (one of my most favorite places to visit at that time) while working a medical clinic in El Toro up the coast. The news came on with a story regarding a massacre at the McDonalds in San Ysidro which I recall passing some 15 minutes earlier. I shudder to think what I might have seen had there be a small deviation in the time index one way or another ... and that's where I was during that historical tragedy.

So you never know where fate might land you in moments of triumph or travail. The carnage at San Ysidro was devastating in the documentary footage I became drawn to knowing just how close I was to it all on the day it happened.

I was always taken aback by what I perceived as a touch of sadness projected by Nadia Comăneci. Her victory smile which often appeared subdued to me personally and I felt she was not really "happy" after the fact ... but I could be wrong.

Personally, I can do without being close to any more history, particularly when that history involves the destruction imparted by the idiotic cancel culture which is part and parcel of a generation of burger flippers reproducing then applying their dismal lack of raising to their own progeny.