168 Chairs

On a spring morning 10 years ago evil met goodness at 9:02 am. Strength and faith were tested but neither wavered. It was a terrible day. Timothy McVeigh drove a Ryder truck filled with 5000 pounds of ammonium nitrate and netromethane to the street in front of the Murrah Federal building. The explosion of that truck caused the north side of the Murrah building to shear off killing 168 people. McVeigh said he did it to avenge the deaths of the Branch Davidians in Waco Texas. He modeled the bombing on a similar event described in the Turner Diaries. He was convicted of murder in 1997 and executed in 2001. In many ways the bombing spelled the end of anti-government militia movement to which McVeigh was linked. Anti-government groups either disbanded or were pushed to the fringes of American politics.
At the Memorial there is a bronze and stone chair for each person who died in the blast that day. Next to the field of chairs is a lone tree that survived the blast and fires that followed. The foundation of the building has been left intact so people can see the scale of the destruction and a portion of the chain link fence erected after the blast that thousand of people left flowers, ribbons and teddy bears on in the weeks after the bombing surrounds the chairs.
Time takes it's toll on youth and beauty, but also on tragedy. Tomorrow will come sometimes almost against our will and bring healing and hope, responsibilities and new possibilities.