Day 247 Rainbows Still Speak

September 11, 2015
Day 247

There was nothing foreboding about the day, September 11, 2001. The sun was strong in a cloudless sky. Though Hurricane Sandy would have been the perfect setting for such a tragic event, it would not strike land for eleven years. Instead, this day was all things typical and therein lay the cruelty, no warning for the citizens.

Do not be fooled. You cannot prepare for tragedies. They barge through walls thought to be strong but revealed as paper thin, and this without warning. The best laid plans do not exist, we are simply not that smart. The towers in a mountain of mourning brought this into perspective.

From that day forward life would never be the same. Buildings thought to be secure, stable, and strong, tumbled with the brightest and most talented in the heart of a bustling city. The cloudless day would be pushed aside with black billows of hate. The unthinkable would became harsh reality.

Charred vehicles with blackened smoke-stained buildings were pictures from other worlds, not our favored metropolis. And now we would have our very own horrific pictures. Was this a movie set unbeknown to us? Oh, how we wished. But instead it was to be our reality that would never leave. Our emotions froze as we witnessed the termination of life piled high in rubbles of tragic stories.

Many of us did not "go there." The images were too much; crowded stairwells, tear-filled elevators, floors and towers giving way, window escapes to death, cell phone messages. We, on the periphery, could not imagine while those in the city were chased by nightmarish dust clouds of destruction. We were numb.

Tears continue to thaw fourteen years later. Bullies will be bullies, evil limps along and yet the night before the fourteenth anniversary of 9/11, a rainbow emerges from the newly built Freedom Tower. For in fact, two planes crashing our reality will never change an ancient promise. WE WILL NOT FORGET, HOPE IS ETERNAL.


Addendum:
Though I did not mention the destruction at the Pentagon or the crashing of the plane in Somerset County, PA. I do remember. It pains me to think of the families destroyed, lives still un-mended because of these tragic events. For the sake of the post, however, I chose to just highlight the towers in light of the rainbow emerging from it last night. If you would like to see some of the social media pictures, I included the link. -http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2015/09/10/photos-rainbow-appears-world-trade-center-eve-911-anniversary/72043352/  .
Thank you for your understanding.