A Beautiful Ceremony
It was 20 years ago on this date that the worst act of domestic terrorism occurred in Oklahoma City, in the Heartland of America. An every year since there has been a remembrance ceremony to honor the 168 people, including 19 children, that were killed. For the past 15 years this ceremony has been held at the former site of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, which has been replaced by a permanent memorial to those who died on April 19th, 1995.
While there were numerous dignitaries in attendance, the one that sticks out the most in my mind is former President Bill Clinton. Mr. Clinton was the President of the United States back in 1995. I remember vividly that this man showed incredible compassion for us here in Oklahoma and especially in Oklahoma City. He arrived in the city four days after the bombing to be part of the very first memorial service that was held. Both he and the first lady attended and Bill Clinton spoke to everyone in attendance and to the entire city. He share words of hope, compassion when we were all still hurting and it was so fresh in all of our minds.
He returned 5 years later for the dedication of the new bombing memorial and museum which again was the site of today's very moving remembrance ceremony. Once again, Bill Clinton was the keynote speaker and one more time he delivered a moving speech that accentuated the theme of the Oklahoma Standard. Along with Bill Clinton there were several other dignitaries including Secretary of Homeland Security, Director of the FBI, former Oklahoma Governor Frank Keating, former Lt. Governor and current Governor Mary Fallon, former mayor Ron Norrick and current mayor Mick Cornett. Each of them took turns at the podium relating their personal thoughts of bombing and the way the people of Oklahoma City and from all over the country came together in our time of need as a city.
The watched the whole broadcast with tears flowing from start to finish like I do on each and every anniversary of the bombing. I hope you all have a wonderful and blessed day where ever you are today.
Image Credit » http://pixabay.com/en/oklahoma-map-geography-state-43773/
Comments
Soonerdad3 wrote on April 20, 2015, 9:37 AM
Oh yeah and I have very little respect for Bill Clinton, but what he did for us in the first few days was very comforting and he always sounded very sincere.