She Asked, Had We Heard About the Explosion in Oklahoma City?
I walked out into the yard, admiring the beautiful Spring morning. The neighbor was out, too, and she asked, had we heard about the explosion in Oklahoma City? All she knew was they thought a bomb had gone off.
We had just moved our little family from Chicago back to Oklahoma the year before. Our move was based on hope, not fear, but the first WTC bombing had certainly brought home to us the vulnerability of Big City Targets, like Chicago (among its other problems). And now, terrorism had followed us to the heartland, it seemed, although we were far from OKC. Well, I already knew the new World War had no borders.
Spent much of the rest of the day watching the news on TV. Lots of "misinfo" in the early hours. Like the reports of additional bombs inside the building. Or that Iraqi John Doe who was so important at first, then forgotten....
My childhood buddy is a nurse in OKC. I remember asking him about his experience. They didn't have to put out a call; every doctor and nurse available turned up voluntarily as soon as the news got out. Alas, as it was later in NYC on 9/11, there were not so many people to treat as you might think, building collapses tending to be rather thorough at killing occupants.
The 168 victims counted doesn't include three unborn.
Also there was a leg which was at first unidentified, then they realized it belonged to a victim who had been buried with the wrong leg, so there's still one unidentified leg.
By the evening, I found myself standing where I was when I first heard about it. Looking at the beauty of that night, remembering the beauty of the day, thinking about the marvelous efforts of all the people who pitched in, and wondering what makes a person go so wrong that they should so admire death above life.
Some links I've collected can be found here:
OKC Bombing -- still with us
http://bit.ly/OKC-20yrs
There is a link for a GoFundMe for the woman who had to have her leg amputated on-site at the bombing. Her artificial replacement is old and needs replacing.