Remembering April 19th, 1995

This weekend is the 25th anniversary of the OKC bombing. At the time, I was a government account salesperson for Cellular One and many of the people in the building were my customers. I would go to the building several times during the month to meet with people, deliver devices and perform other activities.

On the day of the bombing, I was working at my desk to shore up a presentation regarding the Cellular One disaster support plan. My manager and our sales team served on a committee comprised of local first responder leaders including the fire chief, 911 center leadership and others. My role was mostly on the device side as I was in charge of creating an inventory of standby phones that could quickly be dispersed in the case of a disaster. Hard to believe, but back in 1995 phones were not as commonplace as they are now and our sales team needed to work hard to convince public safety officials on the value behind the need for cellular communication.

I was at my desk on a call when I heard a boom and felt our office building shake. We were located several miles north of downtown and the initial speculation around me was that it was a sonic boom from an Airforce jet or perhaps a gas line explosion had occurred somewhere close by. It was not long thereafter that we found there had been a massive explosion at the Murrah building and still at first it was assumed to be some kind of terrible accident.

Regardless, suddenly our plan which in many ways was just a sales tool was needed in a big way. My manager was out of town and now for the first time in my career, I was suddenly thrust in a lead role during a moment filled with emotion, fear, and panic. It was just a few hours later that a cadre of devices was on the way to help supplement communication in the blast area. Within days we had partnered with Southwestern Bell to open and staff a cellular communication command center near the site. We had hundreds of phones to share with responders and maintained onsite charging stations with volunteers that would pass out batteries well as phones to anyone that needed them. Our employees were there 24 hours a day doing anything we could to assist. At one point, I was on-site for several days and with little sleep at all.

There is no one that lived in OKC at the time that was not impacted by the bombing. We all knew someone in the building, someone that helped as a responder, or someone that had been impacted personally due to the loss of someone they loved. Now, 25 years later, the bombing still resonates with the city. It is forever part of our DNA and is a great lesson in community triumphing over tragedy by bringing a mass of individuals together with a unifying experience that in the long run provided many inspirational moments and improvements.

The context of Covid-19 and its impact parallel the bombing experience in many ways. The new terrorist is unseen, has no fear, and is impacting not just a city but the entire planet. During this time, leaders will rise, communities will come together and we will leave the experience better if we allow ourselves to do so.

I believe in the future and in the lessons from the past. It is my hope that everything going on now will result in an even better life to come when it is over. My lesson from 1995 is that it will be a choice each person will have to make. As my sister says, you can shake your fist at the sky in anger and ask why or you can open your hands plus your heart and ask the same question in love. The response returned will be wildly different based on your attitude.

My hope is that we will all open our hands and our hearts like my city did all those years ago to turn something that was intended for evil into a milestone moment of togetherness and growth. 

I believe we will.