In Memoriam, April 19,1995

Ugliness in the background, loveliness in the foreground

Reflecting pool within the garden of remembrance in OKC

Empty chairs representing those who died that day, smaller chairs are for the children whose lives are over

The Survivor Elm Tree that withstood the blast and fire

Today at 9:02AM CDT marks the 17th year of the horrifically evil Oklahoma City bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. At 9:04AM, two minutes later, the nine story Murrah building was completely destroyed along with 168 innocent lives by a deranged hate-filled young man and his equally crazed accomplice.

The magnitude of the destructive blast of a 7,000 Pound ammonium nitate bomb staged inside a parked Ryder truck in front of the building registered on the Richter scale as an earthquake. Along with the collapse of the Murrah building and the sudden death of hundreds of human beings, 680 people were injured, 324 buildings within a 16 block radius were destroyed or damaged, 68 cars were destroyed and caused $652 Million worth of property damage. At the time, the OKC bombing of the Murrah Federal Building was the worst destructive act of terrorism on American soil until 9/11/01.

Recently, I visited OKC and visited this memorial site. A fraction of the size of Gettysburg, the OKC site, yet like Gettysburg, has on overwhelming aura of death, sadness and totally unhinged insanity. The current memorial site is a respectful tribute to those who died and to those who helped in the recovery process, the first responders.

At both entrances to the Memorial site stands a tall stark wall with the following inscription, entitled, We Come Here to Remember:

Those who were killed, those who survived and those who changed forever.
May all who leave here know the impact of violence.
May this memorial offer comfort, strength, peace, hope and serenity.

In this blog, I have attempted to remember those who lost their lives that day to unspeakable violence and to raise some level of awareness of the hate that is still percolating in our country and world today. It is solely up to us, the living, to see that hate doesn't multiply and that the acts of hate like the bombing in OKC never happen again.