Just Off Center

This morning I delivered a piece of equipment to one of my customers in their lab and saw something that actually made me stop in wonder. I was just walking past an engineer's desk when I saw that the background on this guy's computer monitor was a close-up shot of the World Trade Center just as United Airlines Flight 175 was exploding into the south tower with the north tower smoking behind it. I had to stop and stare.

Like most Americans, I have become only slightly accustomed to seeing the footage or photographs of that moment. It always gives me pause. But these days instead of feeling horrified and furious and everything else I felt that day, I find myself just remembering the feelings. That leads me to believe that all of those "We will never forget" stickers on the backs of trucks may not be entirely correct. But still it is an unsettling picture. I stood there watching. It wasn't a patriotic 9/11 montage or a screensaver. It didn't switch over to pictures of firemen or soldiers. It didn't give me a feeling of pride or purpose. It just pissed me off. Who the fuck is this guy to have this kind of picture as his background? He even removed the icons on his desktop so that everyone passing by gets the full view. And it's not like he has his own office or even a cubicle. This is a desk located in the center of this bustling lab.

Anyone who knows me knows that my opinions on politics are many, but that I take great measures to avoid discussing them. And I have no intentions of spilling out any of my partisan views on this blog. But this isn't about politics. It's about having a reminder of a horribly dark moment displayed prominently by someone who obviously thought we'd all appreciate it. But then I got to thinking about other distressing images that have been on display in my past.

When I was in technical school in the Air Force, one of my last classrooms had a picture of a man's hand with his dead, blue ring finger severed at the ring. It was meant as a warning to all electronics students that wearing conductors while working could cause you to lose a finger. It was a nauseating picture, and I kept my head pointed away from it for four days while I worked. But I got the point. I removed my ring. Should I believe that this guy wants to keep this as a visual warning to all who walk down the center corridor? If so, what can I remove to accommodate?

Not three weeks ago my contractor won a new contract with the government for the design and production of some new gadget. The gadget is going to be much smaller than others, so it's easier to carry by a soldier, but just as useful. It was a huge win for them, I'm talking many many millions of dollars. So in celebration, banners were posted all around touting new slogans for this equipment. One of the taglines read "size matters". It was on an eight foot tall banner in the main lobby with a picture of a soldier doing some soldiery thing. Two days later, the banner was gone.

Obviously this was seen as an inappropriate motto by someone here. I can't decide if it was a group of delicate little ladies who couldn't handle the play on words or a guy with a needle dick who felt a pang of painful reality when he passed it every day. Actually, I'm guessing it was this guy's wife. She doesn't need to be reminded that not all penises are the size of a tampon.

But back to the point. Even though I thought it was a funny, if not overused and stupid slogan, I could understand how some might be offended, resulting in its removal. How is it that this picture is looked upon by everyone in the lab and nobody else is saying anything? Is the environment such that it wouldn't be worth disturbing the peace of the lab? I wouldn't go so far as to say that I'm offended by this guy's choice of background, but even engineers have to have heard the word "tact" before. What's next, backgrounds of a serial killer's victim's disembodied heads?