As if the Kennedy assassination and the TV show “Dallas” didn’t give Texas’ second-largest city a bad reputation, we now have this beauty: the quaintly-named “Leaning Tower of Dallas” – what’s left of an 11-story building scheduled for complete demolition on February 16. Most everyone loves a good carefully-planned building collapse, and people who dismiss a new library dedication as boring will rise at the butt-crack of dawn to see a large structure – any large structure – disintegrated. And, on this Sunday morning, all initially proceeded as planned. The explosives detonated, the ground trembled, and the building began to crumble. But, as the dust cleared, everyone realized something was amiss: the building’s core – which contains the elevator shafts and stairwells – remained standing. Nearly two weeks later, it’s still standing. The debacle has been pure porn for social media mavens; Twitter and Instagram overrun with bad puns and cheeky comments.
It begs for the optimist – pessimist debate: an edifice strongly and securely built, or what happens when a city awards a contract to the lowest bidder.
I’ve come to view this fiasco as indicative of my life. I’ve been pounded and beaten, but while I seem to have collapsed from all the trauma, my inner core remains intact – albeit slightly atilt.
You can see the near-total collapse here.
Chief Writing Wolf 