Today we visited the Oklahoma City Memorial. I hadn't known what to expect and I think sometimes approaching a situation with no pre-conceived ideas allows for the truest experience. If you ever have opportunity to visit the memorial, I highly recommend that you make the time to visit. The memorial grounds are beautiful and the museum is educational, emotional, and inspirational. For me, I was most affected by how significantly a life can change in just a moment, and by how the very small decisions we make every day of our lives, can have such dramatic impact.
Survivors of the bombing shared many such stories about these little decisions and small moments. A woman who was leading a team meeting that morning told how suddenly the floor in front of her and all the people in front of her, just simply disappeared. She was left standing behind her desk with absolutely nothing in front of her. Because of where she stood that morning, she survived. The state trooper who shared how he decided in one moment to make a traffic stop for a license plate violation, and in that moment, actually arrested Timothy McVeigh just minutes after the explosion. Each of these people and each of us make a million tiny decisions in our lifetimes that lead us from moment to moment, and lead us to where we are in this moment.
One of the memorial plaques read:
"Any change in normal routine - a meeting away from the office, a doctors appointment,or traffic delay - determine whether a person lives or dies. Everyday occurrences, like a trip to the copy machine or a stop in the snack bar, impact the seriousness of a person's injuries. Then, and many years later, many survivors will struggle with the questions "what if" and "why".
One moment can make all the difference. There is no right or wrong in these moments, they just are. Make your moments count today.
No comments:
Post a Comment