Word: sheers
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...while my mind traversed these paths of catastrophic mechanical failure, the idea of a hijacking never entered my mind, not even once. My thoughts were well ensconced in the man vs. nature theme—with nature exacting a devilish price for the sheer hubris of man—not deranged and self-righteous men taking the lives of countless innocents. Hijackings were things that happened to airliners of other more fractious nations, or in the decade just prior to my existence—the bleary and shadowy 1970s...
...questions haunt the fortunate. Rob Garrard, 45, worked for IBM on the 97th floor of 1 World Trade Center. According to his hometown paper in Plymouth, England, Garrard's sister said he escaped death by "sheer fluke... He was late leaving home because he had to make some calls, then he took the bins out and had to catch a later train." Such are the mundane "run of events," as Garrard later called them, that change fate. He arrived at work an hour and 10 minutes later than usual and was waiting for the elevator when Flight 11 crashed...
...death. Indira Ghandi introduced mass sterilization, imposed martial law after waiving all civil rights and jailed political opponents. Even Margaret Thatcher, an inspiration to me, has the Falklands and ruthlessness in Northern Ireland to her credit. Women of power are not immune from spells of violence, injustice or sheer abuse of power...
...most challenging aspects of recovery is accepting the element of horrible surprise as an x-factor. It?s almost impossible to accept that we can never be prepared for terrorism, that while we can try to live our lives in the safest and most responsible ways, our sheer existence, the fact that we draw breath, makes us viable targets for those who hate us. Ironically, of course, that sense of vulnerability, however terrifying, is also what frees us: We cannot control what happens to us, so we might as well live as fully and completely as possible...
...begin with, I practically wheeze in fear when I contemplate boarding an airplane now to complete a long-planned vacation to the West Coast. But when the time comes, I will get on that San Francisco-bound plane, buckle my seatbelt, and, yes, probably start crying out of sheer terror. But I will be comforted by the fact that I am, by claiming a seat on what I suspect will be a fairly deserted airplane, gesturing impolitely in the direction of terrorists - and terror. I refuse to be locked out of my own life by someone else?s hate...