Memorial

Almost a month ago, I had the privilege of helping my good friend, Julie, move to her new place of residence. It was a nice (and very quick journey!) for me and I think that Julie had a good time, too. :) Here is Julie, gearing up to check the web for some very important information (like how to get to our final destination on time!). :)

Things through the journey went very smoothly, fortunately, and we were very happy about that. :) We had some adventurous moments with getting her stuff moved into the apartment and then with fixing up the apartment, but there were definitely some great memories and a lot of laughs! :) Word on the street is that she's enjoying herself very much in her new place, so that is AWESOME (and this comes from someone who knows exactly what it's like to go somewhere where you only "know" ONE person...it's an adventure, for sure!).

Anyway, part of our journey east included a stop at the Oklahoma City Memorial. This Memorial represents the victims of the Oklahoma City bombing. We were going to pass right through Oklahoma City, so Julie & I decided that since we were going by, we might as well stop and see the memorial.

Humbling. In thinking of this tragedy along with the 9/11 tragedy, I cannot even begin to imagine what survivors go through or what the families of lost loved ones go through. It's beyond my realm of understanding. And so, in visiting this site, I just existed and took it all in.

This is the entry gate. It says: "We come here to remember those who were killed, those who survived and those changed forever. May all who leave here know the impact of violence. May this Memorial offer comfort, strength, peace, hope and serenity." When you walk in, you're greeted by this reflecting pool (below). The brochure for the Memorial says that the pool occupies what was once N.W. Fifth Street. The water is very shallow and is constantly flowing off a hidden edge and then reentering the pool. It's a very calm area that is intended to provide healing and a place for quiet thoughts.

On either end of this pool are walls. You can see one of them in the picture below. Each wall has a time on it. One says, "9:01 a.m." and the other says, "9:03 a.m." These walls have the intention of framing the moment of destruction. According to the brochure, the wall with 9:01 a.m. on it, "represents the innoncence of the city before the attack," and the other wall with 9:03 a.m. on it, "represents the moment they were changed forever." The time in-between, the reflecting pool, represents that moment of destruction. As I said, very moving and very humbling. Another vision you see within the walls of the memorial are all of these chairs. There are 168 chairs that recognize each and every person who lost their life that day. You'll notice some small chairs mixed in with the big chairs...those small chairs represent the 19 children that were killed that day. The brochure explains that the chairs are, "arranged in nine rows, one for each of the nine floors of the building, [and] they are placed according to the floor on which those killed were working or visiting." Each chair rests on top of a glass base that has the name of the victim etched into it.
There is also this wall (below). This wall is the Survivor Wall. It is the only remaining wall from the Murrah Building and it contains the names of the people who survived the attacks. The names are inscribed onto salvaged pieces of granite from the Murrah Building lobby. The brochure tells us that many of those survivors had serious injuries. There are 600 names on the wall.
Another very significant sight inside of the Memorial is this tree. It's surrounded by an oval stone structure that has a quote on it. This tree is called, "The Survivor Tree." It's a 90+ year-old American Elm that, "hears witness to the violence of April 19 and now stands as a profound symbol of human resilience." Yes, this tree was next to the bombing site the day of the attack and it survived. The quote on the brick around it states, "The spirit of this city and this nation will not be defeated; our deeply rooted faith sustains us."
This last picture is a layout of the Memorial site...what the site used to be (on the left) and what it is today (on the right).

As I have already stated, this was a moving experience for me. So often, I take our freedom and our safety for granted, completely oblivious to the evilness in this world. However, this doesn't mean that I want to be found in constant state of fear of "what could be". Instead, I want to live bravely, boldly, and for God, and do so in memory of those who have lost their lives in acts of terror.