One Day, Gene Weingarten

Great idea… pick one day at random, Sunday, December 28, 1986, and write about what happened in the USA on that day… a woman who got a new heart; a man who lost his life trying to save two babies; a mayor booed by his loyal constituents; the story of two people who died of AIDS; a man who somehow survived his helicopter crash; football replay; Jerry Garcia and the Dead’s performance in Oakland, CA… an uneventful day that was eventful. Single day events are hard to hold on to in the relentless flow of time. Those who brush with death and survive, face-to-face with their own mortality… humbling experiences. It changes your perceptions… but denial quickly takes hold again, and we return to the mundane – old habits, old take-for-granted thinking. A series of unremarkable moments, instead of life-enhancing flashes of the overwhelming wonder of being.