10 years...

[ctrl-alt-delete]

Today marks 10 years since the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. I live in Oklahoma City, and I can still remember so clearly the events of that dreadful day. Personally, I did not know anybody that lost their life in the tragedy, but I know quite a few people that did. I did, however, know a police officer who took his own life after experiencing the tragedy.

Today is a day of remembrance. Everyone is saddened, but also joyous believing that they will see their loved ones again.

Be sure to keep the families of the victims in your thoughts and prayers.

[MacWeirdo42]

Oh my gosh, I had forgotten. As in, I had thought about it earlier, but then it slipped my mind. Has it really been 10 years? I was living in Guthrie at the time (for those of you not from Oklahoma, Guthrie is about 30 miles north of Oklahoma City), and I remember hearing the explosion. I was in 5th grade, and we were in class at the time. We all thought it was lightning, but noticed there were no clouds outside. Then we kinda put it out of our heads until about 30 minutes later, when we heard the news about the bombing, and of course put 2 and 2 together. Honestly, I never really knew quite what to make of it. I mean, I was really too young to process how horrible it really was, but it definitely left me in a profound state of shock. Never really got past that. To this day, whenever I think about it, I still just remain in this state of shock that a thing like that could happen. No sadness, no anger, just shock.

I will add, though, that recently I was in Oklahoma City, and I was given a chance to visit the Memorial, but I decided against it, simply because I honestly don't know how I would react to having to face it in person. There was a very real chance that seeing it might make it more real, and push me over the edge from the initial shock of the incident to overwhelming sadness at the thought of it, and I just didn't want to take that chance.

Why are humans so ready and willing to bring suffering upon one another?