With all of the news coming out of the Boston area this morning, it would be easy to miss an important anniversary today. I live in Oklahoma. One thing I noticed this morning on my Facebook feed is that there is very little chatter about the breaking news in Boston, but very many "memorials" about that terrible day in 1995 when Timothy McVeigh also used violence to make a political point.
168 dead, including 19 children. If you've never been to the Oklahoma City Memorial, it is a beautiful, horrible, and pensive place to be. You should visit sometime. The Museum brings it all back home.
I suppose all of us Okies, who were here and aware at the time of the bombing, still have a little PTSD about it. We certainly cannot compare our reaction to the citizens of New York City on their terrible day, but we certainly can relate. Also, the people of Boston and Massachusetts have the right to their own reaction, that we can't claim to totally understand. But, again, we can relate.
The main lesson here: whether right wing, or left wing, Christian or Muslim, or...Political Violence is not to be taken lightly. Keep the people of Boston in your thoughts and prayers today. But don't forget NYC or OKC.