It is no secret---

Yesterday was the 10th anniversary of 9-11, representing the11th of September 2001, which has now been etched in history as 9-11. It seems like yesterday. I remember it clearly, playing out on television, like an action-packed horror movie. I have never been one given to movies to begin with,how much more horror movies. I had just come home from working the night shift and had settled down on the couch for the first phase of the day, when coffee consumed overnight wore off, to off and on watching of the morning television shows, and answering selected morning phone calls.

When the first airplane hit the first tower, I thought I was dreaming all the action unfolding before my very eyes, albeit hundreds of miles away. A phone call from my sister in the Northeast made it clear to me that I was not dreaming. I sat up and witnessed the most horrific act of wasting of innocent lives, and destruction of property, deliberately planned and fine tuned by man, and perfected and carried out. I was numb as I sat there watching, listening, witnessing the lives and dreams of fellow human beings being violated and destroyed, all because of hate. Innocent bystanders, taking the brunt of misplaced anger and hate.

I thought the worst pictures of gruesome evidence of man's crime and wickedness on man had already registered on my consciousness with experiences from the past, and the pictures of bodies jamming rivers during the Rwandan crisis. It seems as if one gets sensitized after seeing such horror over and over again and instead of fear, shock and nervousness, there is a resigned sense of deja-vu, or here we go again, the animal in man rearing his ugly head again. It is a sort of hopeless numbness or maybe slow-motion shock, as one has no control over the horror playing out. Turning it off will in no way make reality go away. All day long, the pictures of everything that happened on that fateful day continued to be recycled, with new stories of human bravery, stories of ultimate sacrifices of love, made by total strangers for others. Incredible stories, incredible realities, as the twin towers suddenly disappeared from the New York landscape, leaving piles of debris, a special kind of debris, holding remains of young and old, male and female, different nationalities, cultures, beliefs, all caught up in one act of hate.

As the days turned to weeks, and the weeks to months, the debris was carefully removed and sorted out. The human remains were respectfully taken care of and ground zero emerged. Ground zero has come a long way, just like the families who lost loved ones and dreams in the twin towers, the Pentagon and that open field in Pennsylvania. Time has brought closure and healing. Love from total strangers has done a lot in helping the victims cope. Faith has played a big role in bringing beauty out of the ashes of 9-11. Life will never be as it was before 9-11. A lot has changed and more change will come, but through it all, it remains very clear that human beings need each other to survive. A lot of hardship has been put in place, to improve security. Trust has been thrown to the winds and it remains very clear that life on this earth will never become a bed of roses,but will always have thorns mixed in with the roses. Maneuvering through those thorns, one can still catch the sweet aroma of the roses and can help those around make the best of life as well. When tragedies happen, it looks as if life would never go on, but with time, life slowly gets back to a new normal and life goes on. God has a way of putting it all back together and putting a rainbow in the sky again.

Each 9-11 since 2001, I remember a gentleman, the best hair cutter in town, who had started giving my boys haircuts after we found out about him. We were very excited about his work. He would do his landscaping business during the day, and then cut hair at home in the evening and people would line up and wait for him. He reminded me of the work ethic of family men and fathers of childhood days. He engaged the young clients with conversations about school, church and family, encouraging them to stay focused on school and to obey their parents. One day, news got to me that he had passed on, after an accident at work where he was cleaning up near a lake. I could not believe how such a thing could happen to such a man. His clients, were deeply hurt and confused. It was hard to find another barber with such a touch, but life went on. His tragedy kind of rolled into the 9-11 tragedy and each year, the memories come roaring back together, as one takes a moment to reflect on the dark days of life, and on God's hand in life and how He works it all together for good, even when we do not see it.
One of my old record finds, the other day, was a collection of inspirational songs by Elvis Presley, quite in good condition and one of the hymns on it reminded that "It is no secret, what God can do"------- So true.

Enjoy:





http://youtu.be/OTDWkXt56qU

Chinwe Enemchukwu
Onye Uwa Oma
na Orlando, Florida.
September 12 2011
Pictures by Chinwe Enemchukwu