Remembering

Fifteen years ago today, Oklahoma City experienced the worst attack of domestic terrorism in this country's history. The bomb tore through the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building right in the heart of downtown, killing 168 people. This included 19 children in the building's daycare center.

I was in middle school at the time, and we had just moved from OKC to St. Louis two years earlier. I remember when my mom picked me up from school that day and explained to me what had happened. She let me watch the television coverage when we got home. It was surreal; my dad pointed out the building just two buildings over, which held the offices where he had worked for Southwestern Bell. All the windows were blown in. Watching the burning wreckage, and hearing the heroic stories of rescue, I still felt like an Okie. I always do on this day.

Someday I hope to visit the beautiful memorial that was erected where the building once stood. There's an eighty-year-old elm that somehow managed to withstand the blast, called the Survivor Tree. You can read about it here.

I hope you'll join me in remembering this event and honoring the survivors, and all the people of Oklahoma City, who refused to let tragedy and despair define their future.