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Published: March 28th 2011
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Oklahoma City Memorial
A remnant of the original fence around the Murrah Building. As then, people leave their thoughts, prayers and mementos on it. We were driving on route 40 out of Memphis, TN by 9:15am. And that was AFTER showering and breaky. We drove into Arkansas in no time--and it was FLAT. With the rain still falling, it was also flooded in areas. As we neared Ft. Smith small mountains and rolling hills could be seen. They weren't as stately as the Smoky Mother Mountains but they were a welcome diversion from FLAT.
I sold one of my books at a gas station along the way. I met a really nice lady who is working two jobs, on her 2nd divorce and has had her own trials and tribulations.
We motored into Oklahoma City, Oklahoma with Homer screaming at us to turn around. I'm not sure where he wanted to take us, but we followed the directions of the hotel. It could be, not sure, but perhaps it COULD have been a data entry issue. We arrived at our hotel at 4:30pm, with plenty of time.
We dropped our stuff and headed out the door and into Oklahoma City proper where we went to the Oklahoma City National Memorial and Museum. The museum was closed, but the memorial
The Empty Chairs
Each chair looks like it is floating above the earth. They are arranged in rows according to which floor the person died on, small chairs for the children. wasn't. As we walked up we saw a chain-link fence with all the notes and flowers and keep-sakes hanging on it. It is a remnant of the original fence erected around the Murrah Building. Over 60,000 items have been collected from the fence and they are used for display and teaching. Yet still folks put their memories and mementoes up on the chain-link. And as I stood there studying it, I understood why. You can't comfort the dead or even the hurt--yet you want to reach out and let them know you were there, you see, you hurt for them, you care. So you leave a bit of yourself hanging on the fence.
Next you walk through a tall gate, and as you enter you see a twin tall gate at the opposite end of a reflecting pool. The gate we walked through had 9:02am deeply etched into it--as I'm sure it is etched into all residents and survivors of that day. On April 19, 1995 at 9:02 am the bomb went off--and from that moment on many, many, lives were forever changed. I was in England when my 82 year old mother called me, crying, telling me about
The Reflecting Pool
The pool used to be the street. The chairs are surrounded by a cement boarder--the outline of the Murrah building the explosion and that an American had done it. A fellow American! I don't know if she ever got over it--she died a year later.
The second tall gate on the opposite end has 9:01 etched on it--at that time, the world was turning as normal. In just a minute the world changed. In just a minute 168 people would be dead. In just the time between heartbeats 19 children quit breathing.
Next we saw a field of empty chairs, one chair for each person who died. The base of the chairs is glass and it gives the illusion that the chairs float a foot above the ground. When you walk closer you see a name carved on the front bases, just the first and last name--of the person who died that day. Although we didn't stay until night-fall, I read that the bases of the chairs are lit each night--so each death becomes a beacon, hopefully to remind us that it must not happen again.
There is a walkway around the empty chairs and this is the outline of the Murrah building.
The reflecting pool between the twin gates of time used to be N.W 5th
Thank God for Children
Many, many kids sent in painted tiles--they were all put into a fence--that you see as you exit.... street. It was where McVeigh left the white van.
To the left of the chairs is a lone tree. Before the bomb it was a tree in the middle of a parking lot, now it stands as a silent sentinel of what zealotry can do. The tree leans away from the blast as though shocked by the horror. But it stands. Now it is called the Survivor Tree. A paved pathway now leads to the tree. The message in the wall surrounding it says, "The spirit of this city and this nation will not be defeated; our deeply rooted faith sustains us."
As we were walking out, we passed a wall of hand-printed tiles. These tiles were decorated by countless children and sent to Oklahoma City--as not only a way to confront their own sadness, but to offer hope to all the residents of the city. Their messages come from their hearts and are uplifting to read. I especially loved the one that said, "Love heel!"
And we have, albeit we are scarred. It was so worth going to see. It was lone without being lonely. It was sad without being hopeless. It is a scar, but scars are made of tough stuff.
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Kristi
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WOW
You sure do make me want to go visit OKC! That made me get goosebumps.....so glad you are having a good trip. Oh and you might want to make the man stop and get you a coat. It's a bit chilly here :)