Those Who Survived
And Those Who Were Changed Forever."
Sunday was the 20 Year Memorial Ceremony for Oklahoma City bombing of the Federal Building in 1995. It was a good ceremony, with a whole bunch of special guests and well done. There are a lot of articles and information about the bombing, the ceremony and the aftermath out there, and I don't want to write another one.
I want to emphasize how real the stories about that time frame in Oklahoma are. The "Oklahoma Standard" became a phrase used by people everywhere to sum up how Oklahoma responded to the tragedy 20 years ago. It was a real deal. For days, the whole city was 'on call', ready to do anything that could be done to help.
Once, the rescue workers put out a call for repelling equipment, ropes, anchors, etc. The TV stations repeated it, and within one hour they were telling everyone that they had more than they needed, and please stop bringing it. People stood in line for hours to give blood that turned out not to be needed, just to do something. Everyone drove around with their headlights on for days just to make a statement, to do something to participate in the rescue. Hundreds of volunteers camped outside the Red Cross center. There was nothing for them to do, but they waited anyway.
One rescue worker that also worked in the first NYC Trace Center bombing talked about his experiences here and there. He said that in NYC, people were coming around with bottled water that they sold the rescuers for $5 ea. In OKC, there was an abundance of water, food, support, encouragement and thankfulness that was just not there in New York.
Those things make good stories. But I was there, and I know how real, how genuine the outpouring of support was - and how deep and heartfelt. For this, I am proud of Oklahoma.
At the medical software company I worked at, we also had medical offices from several other states pack up and send basic medical supplies. Our customers did this completely on their own. Boxes of stuff started showing up the very next day, with a note of sympathy and support, asking us to make sure they got to the people who needed them.
For a tragedy that on a global scale just wasn't that big of a deal, the response from Oklahomans and Americans in general was really something special.
That's what I remember most from the day and weeks following a terrible incident in Oklahoma City. I hope I never have to see anything like it agian.