ABSTRACT
The first two incidents I recount and reflect on in this chapter are one-offs from more than 30 years ago contrasted with one that occurred three times a few years ago. The third set of incidents occurred, as I write this, a few days ago, and is written with more verbatim dialogue, because the incidents are so fresh and clear in my mind. However, one of the things that all three retellings have in common is that all of the incidents lasted just a few minutes. The disproportional relationship between the brevity and the significance of these incidents highlights, I believe, the importance and the value of looking in close detail at apparently fleeting moments from our personal and professional lives, as well as those longer and more arduous events that occupy much greater periods of time (although not necessarily space).
