Blessings In Disguise

Yesterday's obituaries in the New York Times contained the story of a man named Fred Hakim, who died at age 83.
Hakim's life was interesting to me because he had an experience which reminded me of something that happened in my own life.

Hakim owned and operated a hot dog business named the Grand Luncheonette in Times Square. He inherited the business from his father. Between them they ran the business for decades, until the City ordered the son to leave so the building could be demolished as part of the renovation of Times Square some years ago. His attempt to remain was unsuccessful and, at age 69, Hakim was forced out.

I used to eat hot dogs at his store and at a nearby Nedick's, known to fans as the Orange Room for its famous orange soda drink, whenever it came time to shop at Macy's Herald Square store. I hated clothes shopping but the hot dogs, one of my favorite foods, made the task more palatable.

Anyway, you would expect that losing the family business after so many years would have made Hakim despondent. But the exact opposite was the case. Hakim always told friends and family that losing the store was one of the luckiest days of his life. The reason for his unexpected reaction was that a freak accident occurred shortly after he left the premises. It seems that demolition nearby weakened his building and caused it to collapse suddenly and completely. Hakim said he would almost certainly have been standing behind the counter and killed instantly if he had been working at that time. The eviction was a blessing in disguise!

I had a similar kind of experience about 25 years ago. At that time I was seeking an attractive job with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. A friend at my then present job had moved to the Port Authority, liked it a lot, and arranged an interview for me with two of his colleagues after giving them a glowing recommendation about me. I felt sure I would enjoy making this move, but to my surprise I didn't get an offer. Needless to say, I was very disappointed and spent some time moping about it before resuming my life. It was only many years later that I realized what a blessing in disguise my not getting this job actually was. It turned out that the Port Authority had its offices on a high floor of the World Trade Center. When the twin towers were attacked on 9/11, a number of Port Authority officials were tragically killed, including the Executive Director and my friend Richard. If I had worked there, I would have been in an office near him as we did similar kinds of work. Like Hakim, I surely would have been killed when the towers fell. Instead, I was compelled to remain at my existing job, where I met my wife and from which I went on to interesting work elsewhere.

I think about these poignant work-related incidents whenever I consider the problems of frustrated and disappointed young people these days seeking the job of their dreams. Their distress is real and justified, but based on the life of Fred Hakim, myself, and I am sure many others, I would like to console them at least a little with the thought that sometimes not getting their imagined dream job might actually turn out to be a blessing in disguise. Occasionally you don't even get to realize it except in retrospect many years later.