Do the math

Yesterday, I was doing what I suspect many are doing at this time of the year, cleaning out drawers, going through files and preparing for my date with the taxman.

In retrospect, 2009 was actually a pretty good year. I had a long steady stint at DIRECTV as their in-house Creative Director. Made many connections with agencies I hadn't worked with before, turned down a substantial job offer and even had a hand in a huge new business win that could alter the automotive landscape.

But I digress.

During my housekeeping activities I stumbled across this matchbox. It's from the World Trade Center. If I'm not mistaken, I picked it up in the mid 80's when my parents had taken an old girlfriend and I to dinner after a Broadway show.

It's weird looking at this tiny memento, no bigger than my thumb. Not because of any imagined sentimental value -- despite the amazing views of Bayonne, New Jersey, the show sucked, the food was mediocre and my parents fought all the way through desert.

What's weird is that this little configuration of cardboard, that could not have cost more than 3 pennies to cut, assemble, print and distribute, has more value than the lives of the 19 monsters who took down those buildings in the name of their twisted, savage, worthless beliefs.