And Rightly So!

Yesterday was the 13th anniversary of the Oklahoma City Bombing of the Murrah Building. I was unable to make it then, so I went today to see the memorial (I have some training here at OKC). It is a very, very sober memorial; one that was also quiet and peaceful. Beautiful even.

I was 18 years old when that attack happened. I was sad that it happened, I knew it was horrible, but I didn’t truly grasp the devastation and the lives lost that day (though I learned quickly after 9/11, not to take away from OKC, but being even six years older gave me the maturity I needed to realize the scope of such an attack). Walking through the memorial brought me back to a tragedy that has been overshadowed by the larger attack of 9/11 and our Global War on Terror.

The museum itself is very well done, and it walks you through chronologically, from the time people got up and went to work, up to the moment of the attack, and through the rescue and recovery. I would highly recommend all who visit the memorial to make time, atleast an hour if not more, to walk through it.

Being the father of two little girls, one almost four and a 1 year old who just learned to walk, what broke my heart were the smaller chairs amongst the bigger chairs, each empty chair representing the person missing from their families. You can see one of the smaller chairs, representing one of the little ones murdered by Timothy McVeigh, on the left of this image:

Walking through the memorial, I saw the picture of this little angel, one of many who perished that morning.

Her name is Baylee Almon. She had just turned one year old, much like my daughter. A precious bundle of love. Innocent and fragile. If your heart doesn’t wrench at the thought of pain and suffering happening to that little creature, you don’t have one. She had an entire life to live. She’d be 14 years old right now.

But hate stepped in. Not the hate of an out of control religion or a racist hate-monger, but hate of the federal government. Our federal government is not a fascist dictatorship. Revolution is by far the most unnecessary means by which to effect change in it, and I don’t see how this terroristic act was ever going to change politics in Washington or the behavior of the people. Revenge for Ruby Ridge and Waco? If so, what petty, little men McVeigh and Nichols were. No, scratch that. What evil, cold, and ruthless men they were/are. We can never forget that our enemies are not only at our gates, they can live amongst us, ready to kill for a myriad of perceived grievances. We can not let them. We can not let them ever again kill our fellow citizens. It can not be allowed to happen.

That little angel above was broken by those bastards…

My heart aches for those parents. I could not imagine losing my child, much less like that. May God look after them and comfort them, and may Jesus hold little Baylee in His arms, and gather around the 18 other little ones to him.

“But Jesus called the children to him and said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. ” - Luke 18:16