“Sun and Flowers Where There Used To Be Rain”   

   

   

I remember it well.  A Tuesday, not unlike any other Tuesday except for my looking forward to the early morning delivery of a local artist’s painting.  She had been charged to give our Nashville-based NASBA employees a “fall-in-love with New York” depiction, a piece of art which would instantly reflect the distinctiveness of that great city.  

It was a few minutes before nine, central time, September 11.  The artist was on her way to the NASBA office as was I.  My local radio sports talk program was interrupted with news of what then appeared to be a small plane accidentally hitting the north tower of the twin tower buildings in New York.  Before I arrived at the office, another report interrupted the programming with news of a second plane flying into the south tower.  By the time I arrived in the office, the disturbing news became even more tragic and more numbing.  The twin towers had come under attack with hijacked American Airlines 11 and United Airlines 175 guided by terrorists into the north and south towers.

Shortly after I had arrived at the office, our artist showed up with her painting of unmistakable New York.  I don’t think that she had heard the horrible news.  I looked at the painting and was stunned for in front of me was a beautiful interpretation of the twin towers—the buildings that were only a few minutes removed from disintegrating and trashing to the ground below.

The twin tower’s painting continues to remind me of the tragedy, the loss of life, the horror, and the thousands of families affected so malevolently.  But I don’t keep it hanging over my family room mantel for those reasons.  I have kept the painting now for twelve years because it also reminds me of the strength of a people, the courage and boldness of unselfish people, and the coming together of a nation when our freedoms are threatened.  I keep the painting and look at it often because I know that not only will the twin towers be replaced with even more magnificent structures but more importantly the people of New York and all affected by the horrors of that fateful day will catch glimmers of hope, will rise up and continue to pursue their dreams and hopes.

“Nine-eleven” is so much more than just another day whether in a literal, symbolic or metaphorical sense.  It is a day much like December 7, 1941 (“day that will live in infamy”), November 22, 1963 (Kennedy assassination), and January 28, 1986 (Challenger disaster where they…”slipped the surly bonds of Earth to touch the face of God”).  These days and others like them in their immediate tragedy and horror show us the grim realities of our world of wrong, miscalculations, and mistakes.

But the memories of these days so anchored in our minds are assuaged in some way I think by the soaring spirit of a people who come together in times of distress, seeming defeat, and loss.  Being Democrat, Republican, or Independent didn’t matter much on 9/11, 12/7 or 1/28.  What mattered was a focus and emphasis on family, friends, righting wrongs, unity and looking with hope to a future only made more certain with dogged determination to not be defeated.  

Our human spirit and our strong will are caught up in the words of that old song:  “What a difference a day makes. Twenty-four little hours brought the sun and the flowers where there used to be rain.”  It is needful to remember tragedy, days of horror and the face of evil.  But we must not stay there.  We must moreover remember and emulate the “sun and the flowers” of courage, boldness, selflessness, and the face of a people intent on doing good.

David A. Costello, CPA

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