The Oklahoma City National Memorial

When we were recently in Tulsa, one of the places we wanted to visit was the Oklahoma City National Memorial.  Oklahoma had a design competition, much the same as occurred for the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington, except for this monument the people most directly involved (family members of those lost, survivors, and rescue workers) selected the design.

Like 9-11 and the JFK assassination, most of us remember exactly where we were and what we were doing when we first learned of the Oklahoma City bombing.  It happened at 9:02 a.m. on the 19th of April in 1995.  I was on a business trip in Seattle, in a car talking to one of our marketing guys, when I heard about it.   I remember the first day and the day after, when folks thought it might have been done by Islamic terrorists.  But it was a homegrown crackpot, rapidly captured and ultimately executed for his crime.  Another conspirator inexplicably drew multiple life sentences (he will die in prison), and a third testified against the first two, served a relatively short prison sentence, and is now in the witness protection program.

I knew the Oklahoma City National Memorial would be a moving experience; what I had not expected was just how emotional it would be. The gravity of the crime that killed 168 men, women, and children who were simply living their lives that morning is wrenching. That said, the National Memorial is well done, seeing it was time well spent, and it is something no one should miss.