I was at work in the Oxy Building in downtown Tulsa when I heard the news about the bombing. I went downstairs to the cafeteria and watched the video. I remember it was all very confusing and nobody knew what happened or why. People didn’t know if it was natural gas explosion or just what. There was a lot of speculation that it was middle eastern terrorists striking in the heartland.
We had a couple of customers come in from Oklahoma City for a meeting. They worked several miles north of downtown Oklahoma City. They said that they could feel the boom in their office but they didn’t know what it was.
What a shock when we learned that it was fellow citizens that murdered so many people. The chief of coward’s advice to survivors of the murdered victims before he was executed years later was “get over it.”
A few days later I talked to another customer who worked just a few blocks from the Murrah Building. He talked how it blew out the windows of the downtown YMCA and injured children who were in the day care. He helped get the children out of the Y.
Sweetie and I went down a few weeks later to the site. What got me was the damage to the surrounding buildings.
It drove home to me the mayhem, violence, and chaos that can result from the power of morons.
I feel the same dread now, that I felt then. The political atmosphere is very similar. I know several people who think very strongly that the country is not on the right track and not a one of them I know would harm anybody and I will defend forever their right to express their opinions. But with freedom comes responsibility and when I see facebook comments such as, “where is Lee Harvey Oswald when you need him” I get very concerned. There is always a fringe group of morons out there who will act on things and they can cause great destruction.
So my prayer is not that people will suddenly make themselves happy with the present political situation. I pray that they will express themselves responsibly and keep faith in our democratic values and institutions and remember the weak minded out there such as the Murrah building murderers who had trouble distinguishing right from wrong. Words do have power.
It has been a long time since I’ve been to the Bombing Memorial. It was done exactly right.
I’m participating in a meme this week sponsored by the “Real Housewives of Oklahoma.” The theme of the meme this week is “Where Were You on April 19, 1995.” Go check out the Housewives. They are definitely real.
Great post about this sad, sad day. I’m going to try to post about where I was, but it’s not very exciting since I wasn’t living in Oklahoma at the time.
Excellent post. Thanks for linking up with us today!
For most of us it was a day of disbelief. Like you , I was at work at 9:00 AM and recall someone in the office calling out that something just happened in Oklahoma City as soon as a bulletin broke in on the radio. Sue and I drove over to OKC sometime later and were most moved by the tributes and memorials that hung from the chain link fence that had been set up around the perimeter of the site. I think part of that has been incorporated into the memorial. Thank you for posting this.
I was at work. I went into the lunch room to grab a much needed cup of coffee and stopped for a second to check out the news on the TV set. Then the news was interrupted for a news break. Strange, but there was no time to write up anything for the talking heads. I was in shock and saddened. Then I heard that there might have been a day-care center in the building and I got pissed. Admittedly I thought it was a Middle Eastern thing, but really didn’t care. I wanted death to who ever did it. I still tear up when I see specials of that day on TV, but I can only imagine what the people of OK City went through. Thanks for posting this and the reminder. Like our vets, they should never be forgotten.
Good post Yogi!
I sense that same thing about our times. There are so many angry Americans right now.
It’s important that our voices be heard, but hopefully is not in a violent way.
Thanks Yogi for stopping by my blog. I love your words. It will be a surreal day.
This is a very thoughtful post and so true. Thank you for sharing.
I worry about things like this happening again also. I pray that people will understand that violence will only cause more problems rather than solve them.
I am admittedly not a fan of the current politics but as a result I fear for the lives and well being of our country’s leaders. Hateful comments make me ill when they condone evil acts. That is never necessary. I hadn’t thought about how that ties in to the OKC bombing.
Very good post today, Yogi.
Thanks for joining the Housewives this Monday.
Such a scary day for us all! Unfortunately the political atmosphere does seem shaky now too.
Interesting to read where everyone was. And thanks for commenting on my blog too 🙂
I completely agree that times feel a little scary right now. I’m am constantly disturbed by the acceptance of the encouragement of violence as a means to solve political problems. It had never occurred to me that maybe it upsets me so because I am an Okie. I think you’re right on the money with this one. Great post.
Yogi, the girls have been talking you up for weeks now and this is my first jaunt over to your space on the net! Thank you so much for your post.
I agree – the memorial was done right.
~~Mrs. Nesbitt
Being retired we were home but getting ready to visit family in Houston, which is where we viewed most of the coverage.
I fear that the same may happen again, in fact it did, with the crash of the light plane into a building housing the IRS.
I wrote a letter to the editor of our local paper that was not specifically critical of the Tea Party Movement and the response from Tea Party supporters was so vile that I feared for my safety. These are scarry times.
Yogi, I love how you brought our present times into your post. We are never prepared! Thanks for linking up! ♥Mrs. Hart♥
A marvelous post, Yogi! Just like the day JFK was assassinated, I remember the Oklahoma bombing as if it were yesterday. The Tea Party members and supporters leave me sick and terrified of where this country is headed. These are indeed very frightening times. Thank you!
Sylvia
Amazing the similarities in our mindsets regarding this, Yogi. Great post.
I was in my cave, err classroom, and didn’t hear anything about it until the evening news. I was upset that the main office hadn’t said anything over the intercom, but that was par for the course. I was concerned about my brother who lives in Norman and how this would affect him and his family.
I agree with you. David Koresh and Timothy McVeigh would both be leaders in the tea party movement if they were alive today. The tone and rhetoric seem to have only gotten worse.
Nice post about a difficult situation. And yes, the memorial was done “just right.”
While at home recuperating, I had just turned on CNN as the news broke. At first I thought it was a gas explosion. I remember many of the haunting images of that day, especially the firefighter carrying the little child.
A sad, sad day.
Sunny
I remember it well though, of course, only tv coverage over here.
We live in a frightening world. I fear for our grandchildren’s future.
Venture a small fish to catch a great one.......................................................
Wow. I was at work preparing for a class. Speculation was that it was foreign terrorists. Took a long time for it to sink in that our own countrymen could do such a thing.
The memorial is beautiful, hope I can visit someday.
As I was telling Tulsa Gentleman yesterday, I only really learned about it when I came to North America because I was pretty young when it happened, and I was living in France.
I can only imagine the shock. Terrorism is the same no matter where around the world… killing blindly in the name of something is just plain wrong.