Ten Years Later -- Remembering Oklahoma City

Six years before we could have imagined the horror of September 11th, the people of Oklahoma City experienced the unspeakable tragedy of terror on our own soil. On April 19, 1995, Timothy McVeigh detonated a blast that blew out the Murrah Building and killed 168 people. It was the act of a madman, made all the more unbelievable because it was perpetrated by "one of our own."

Timothy McVeigh taught us that evil can take many forms and doesn't always look the way we might expect it to look. I must admit that my first reaction upon hearing the news was that "outsiders" had done this -- and I remember a mixed sense of shame, sadness, and betrayal when the news came out that McVeigh was the bomber. I wanted it to be someone else.

The people of Oklahoma City have persevered, however, although the memory of that tragic day will always be with them. For the rest of us, it has become an event in history. Today is a good day to stop and remember the 168 who died that day and to think about the people they left behind. We cannot imagine the depth of their grief, but we can admire their strength. Diane Leonard, who lost her husband that day, put it best: "There is hope, no matter how difficult an event that you experience," she said. (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A59604-2005Apr16.html)