Today marks the 18th anniversary of the OKC Murrah Building Bombing, which I rememeber vividly despite only being 6 years old at the time. Even miles away, our windows threatened to break, things fell off the shelves and off the walls from the sheer force of the blast. I remember the city going on lockdown, the manhunt, the sound of helicopters constantly hovering overhead. Most of all, I remember the panic and sadness. I didn't understand at that age what had happened. I didn't know why someone would do something like that. Yet, out of all the pain, fear, sorrow, and death, this state came together like it never has before. The entire Nation mourned with us. It was one of the first times the people took a stand and refused to be weakened by this cowardly act of such gross inhumanity.
The bombing killed 168 people, 19 of which were children in the daycare of the building. I'm sure many of you have seen the heart wrenching photo of firefighter Chris Fields carrying a dying baby Baylee out of the destruction.
When those bombs went off in Boston, my heart sank. It felt like 1995 all over again. Immediately there was an outpour of condolences from Oklahoma, especially as the News reports started comparing it to our own tragedy. I think more than anything, though, the events have proved yet again that this senseless act of ongoing violence will not weaken us. It didn't in 1995, not in 2001, and it won't this time. From the ashes, we rise stronger, ready to face whatever evils are to come.
I'm generally not a patriotic nor a religious person by any means. But events like this stir something deep within.
So regardless of political stances, religion, where you live, anything else, I would like to ask our community to take a moment today to pause what you're doing and give that time in honor of those lives we've lost to these acts of violence. If nothing else, they deserve that much.
As tradition in Oklahoma, at 9:02 every morning on April 19th, the state observes 168 seconds of silence to honor those killed.
"We Will Never Forget"
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