OKC April 19, 1995

In my last post I referred to the Oklahoma City bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. I was in seventh grade when the bombing happened on April 19, 1995. Early that morning a man parked a moving van full of explosives outside the building and walked away. A few minutes later, BOOM! The explosives had detonated and the entire front of the building was gone. Paper was flying everywhere, people were panicking looking for friends and loved ones, others were suffering from major injuries while others were dying. The toughest part to handle was that there was a daycare in the building and children, little children, were killed and seriously injured. The most gripping picture is a fireman carrying a little child in his arms. The child lay lifeless in the fireman's arms, socks on his little feet and it looked as though the child did not have any clothes on. I can't even imagine what it must have been like for the fireman to have to carry a little body like that away from a smoldering building.

I remember going to the state soccer tournament a few months later and going to the site of the blast. The building was still in it's blown-up glory. The surrounding buildings had shrapnel all over them and the whole area was fenced off. People had started writing on the other buildings inspiring messages, teddy bears were placed up against the fences for the lil ones that were killed and people were leaving notes in the fence holes. it was a sombering experience. No matter what was going on in your life at that time you stopped to think about those who were still having to deal with the fact that there was no longer a child, wife, husband, brother, sister, mom, dad etc. in their life when they had been there so long. Now OKC has rebuilt. A few years later they were able to unveil the memorial at a park across the street from the original building with little school-type chairs for all the victims. It is a beautiful memorial that I would like to go back and see sometime in the future.

I don't think I will ever forget where I was that day when it happened. I was sitting in Mrs. Limes PE class. Since we did not have TVs in the gym none of us knew what happened. As my friends and I walked back into the main part of the building we noticed that something was different with everyone. As we walked the hallways to class we noticed that the TVs were on. We couldn't really get a good glimpse until we walked into our classes where we found pictures of the building, almost gone, and people going all over the place. The blast was so huge that people an hour away could feel the ground shake. Classes the rest of the day were spent talking about the whole ordeal. School was not happening. It became a lesson that even in Oklahoma, the place we thought was so boring, is a target for anything. I still remember sitting in Mr. Lane's World Geography class talking about what should be done to the person/persons responsible for this heinous act. He said the guy should be made to hang upside down from the building by his toes on a string then little sticks of dynamite should be placed between his fingers and toes and lit. I thought that was a little extreme, but now that I know what it was all about I would have to agree with him. It's been almost 15 years and I can still remember the events of that day. It's amazing what one even in time can bring to your remembrance. I hadn't thought about the OKC bombing since the attacks in 9-11 and this one shooting at Ft. Hood brought it all back.

I debated about writing this, but figured it would be something that my posterity can learn about. I have been remembering some of the weirdest things recently and they are all great things to remember. I really should write more of them down because I never know when these memories will stop. New goal: WRITE IT DOWN WHEN I REMEMBER IT!