Aside from local news this has been a quiet news day concerning this. Are people outside of Oklahoma beginning to forget?

You may be right.

Cam Edwards, who used to do the morning news on KTOK and who now works out of Washington, reported getting this in his email this morning:

"I thought I might find some mention of the Murrah building bombing anniversary on your site. I haven't heard a peep about it outside the local news here in OK. I wonder if people are starting to forget?"

Full story here:
http://www.camedwards.com/2006/04/19/i-havent-forgotten/

Disclosure: Something I wrote is mentioned therein.

Rather than forget, I think most people have done their best to move on.


Still, it's the lead story on newsok.com right now.

But it's not front-and-center on the Oklahoman itself.

My school didn't do a 168-second silence at 9:02 today, and I was very upset with that.

Unfortunately, people seem to WANT to forget it happened. My mom is a teacher and said last year the principal didn't want to do the 168-second silence anymore so everyone can "move on". The problem is that folks don't realize it's important to remember...you can remember and still move forward in your life.

I hope people will continue to talk about it and take those moments to remember the tragedy each year. IMHO, it's a great way to pay respects to those who lost their lives, their loved ones, and their friends.

Cam Edwards, who used to do the morning news on KTOK and who now works out of Washington, reported getting this in his email this morning:

"I thought I might find some mention of the Murrah building bombing anniversary on your site. I haven't heard a peep about it outside the local news here in OK. I wonder if people are starting to forget?"

Full story here:
http://www.camedwards.com/2006/04/19/i-havent-forgotten/

Disclosure: Something I wrote is mentioned therein.
Yep, that was me. I thought that it was very odd not to have it in the national news at least a little.

Unfortunately, people seem to WANT to forget it happened. My mom is a teacher and said last year the principal didn't want to do the 168-second silence anymore so everyone can "move on". The problem is that folks don't realize it's important to remember...you can remember and still move forward in your life.

I hope people will continue to talk about it and take those moments to remember the tragedy each year. IMHO, it's a great way to pay respects to those who lost their lives, their loved ones, and their friends.

We can remember people without hokey things like the 168 seconds of silence.

How about setting up scholarships in the names of the victims for students of anti-terrorism or law enforcement disciplines? How about setting up an extension of OU, OSU, or UCO on the bombing site to teach anti-terrorism disciplines?

These ceremonies seem to go through the motions of rememberance just fine, but they accomplish nothing to honor their victims. If every Oklahoman (or Oklahoma Citian) were to donate $1.68 on each April 19th to some sort of foundation set up to give scholarships, etc., imagine what we could accomplish to ensure that these peoples' memories will really be honored.

Also, the fact that it's been 11 years now since the bombing, many people have the impression that it's in the distant past. We shouldn't forget, but I'm glad it's not in the news every day like it was for months and months and months after April 19th, 1995.

Also, many people have forgotten because 9-11 took center stage, as the largest terrorist attack in US history.

This is natural after any major disaster, people will start to move on and not make it central to their lives that day. Typically right after the event and for a couple years the entire nation reflects, then it begins its gradual decline from there to those just directly impacted (the families) after several years. This doesn't mean it is any less significant to us, just that its not central to our existance today.

We are seeing the same thing with 9/11 and have seen the same with other major disasters like Andrew, the great midwest floods, etc. We will see the same with Katrina and the other various hurricanes from last year. It's just human nature.