A Roesner Family Photo Album

The Oklahoma City National Memorial

"At 9:02 a.m. on April 19, 1995, the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building was destroyed in the largest terrorist attack in U.S. history."

So says the brochure that introduces you to the memorial site. It's a profound experience, this memorial. It's almost understated, an equal match for the overstatement of the act of terrorism which brought about this need to express grief with such a variety of images.

The memorial consists of The Symbolic Memorial, the Oklahoma City National Memorial Center (interactive museum still under construction), and the Oklahoma City National Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism. The Symbolic Memorial consists of these parts:

• The Gates of Time. The gates symbolize the before and after moments. All the tragedy happened between these moments.
• The Reflecting Pool. The pool lies between the gates. It is shallow and the water is forever running across it and down the nearly invisible sides. You can see your own reflection in the pool, symbolizing "a face of someone changed forever."
• Field of Empty Chairs. There is a chair for each person whose life was lost as a result of the blast. There chairs are in two sizes, the smaller ones representing the children who lost their lives. The chairs are empty, representing absence.
• Children's Area, where children's art is displayed. The Children's Area is accompanied by chalk boards embedded in the cement. Two good-sized containers of sidewalk chalk are in the area so that children can continue to write their feelings.
• Rescurers' Orchard, where the Survivor Tree is surrounded by fruit- and flower-bearing trees.
• The Survivor Tree, which apparently survived the blast when so much else didn't.

� 2000 RSR