Nine years ago today (maybe yesterday by the time you read this), a truck bomb exploded at the Alfred P. Murrah building in downtown Oklahoma City, killing 168 people including children at a day care facility in the building.
The sad part is, in the "post-9/11 era" we seem to forget about this chapter of our history. Even I didn't realize what today was until sometime this afternoon. I've got nothing special to add here... just my story.
I was 15 years old, a freshman in high school. The day started out normally enough, until about halfway through the second of our four classes that day. I was sitting in "Introduction to Business," a worthless class if there ever was one, when one of the coaches came running down the hall and told our instructor to turn on the TV, NOW. Classes weren't exactly officially cancelled that day, but no work was done either. I don't know about the rest of the country, but life in Oklahoma basically stopped for most of the day.
I suppose I was kind of a young, naive 15. I didn't truly understand the gravity and enormity of that day's events. At first I wondered why my mother would just suddenly start weeping. With a few more years and some life experience under my belt, I understand better.
Hopefully, next year's anniversary will be more noticed by all of us, myself included.