4/19/95 9:03 AM

10 years ago today, the bombing of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City brought spectacular terrorism to the American heartland. 168 innocent souls lost their lives.

At this time ten years ago, I was working for a market research company in Dallas and wandered into the break room for a soda only to see the carnage 200 miles to the north unfolding on the television before my eyes. My immediate thoughts turned to the safety of the many relatives I have living in Oklahoma City. I rushed back to my desk and frantically dialed my aunt Helen. She explained more fully what had happened and told me that everyone was safe and accounted for, except my uncle Ed. His office was a mere 4 blocks from the site of the blast. Within fifteen minutes we were all relieved to hear that despite all the windows of his law office being blown out, Ed and all of his employees were safe, if not very shaken. Even the windows on Helen's home, five miles from the site, had trembled with ferocity at the time of the explosion.

It is important that we never forget the events of that fateful day in 1995. On that day, terrorism struck an often forgotten and even maligned red-state. In terms of culprits, ideology, scale and global impact, the Oklahoma City bombing stands in stark contrast to what happened on 9/11. However, there are common threads which run from Oklahoma City to New York, Pennsylvania and Washington DC, and extend through Bali, Madrid, Belfast, Gaza, Tel Aviv and other affected communities around the world.

Foremost among those threads is that innocent men and women of all political and ethnic stripes who are going about their daily business are not safe, so long as twisted ideologies armed with the desire to inflict mass casualties are given even the slightest room for maneuver. A second thread is that in the aftermath of these senseless tragedies, the finest elements of the human spirit emerge under the most trying of circumstances. As we look at Oklahoma City and 9/11 in a rearview mirror in which objects increasingly (and inevitably) look smaller than they appear, it is important that we never forget. For forgetting assures that we will forego our vigilance or minimize the threats that we face.

I encourage any of you who visit Oklahoma City to spend some time at the memorial. It is a truly special place and a deeply moving experience.