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INTERVIEW:
Ken Thompson
September 6, 2002 Episode no. 601
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Read more of R & E's interview at the Oklahoma City National Memorial with Ken Thompson:
What is most meaningful to you about this memorial?
That my mother is never going to be forgotten, and neither are the other 167 people who died here, and that we learn from this experience.
Is this a place of meditation and prayer for you?
I certainly think it is. I come to the memorial to try to speak to my mother at her chair and pray for her, that God watch over us as a family, watch over the people of Oklahoma City, watch over our country. I come here quite often as a source of peace, to ground me to what I am as a human being now.
Do you have a sense that this is a place where souls are laid to rest?
I do. I certainly feel a special connection here to my mother. I think that her soul is definitely here. I feel probably more comfortable here than I do at the cemetery where she's buried, because I know she lay for 21 days here in this building, after it imploded, in the rubble. [She was] the last person identified. A part of my mother is there and will always be there, whether in the form of her tissue or her body or her soul. But my mother is in there, and it is sacred ground for us.
The world changed in 1995. We had never seen domestic terrorism on United States soil like this in the past. America has changed. I certainly don't believe that I'm the only person who changed, or that Oklahoma City was the only city that changed. I think America changed, much like it did September 11.
We have a responsibility in Oklahoma City to make sure that our memorial lives on; to take care of America; to show America that this happened, that we're learning from it, that we're growing from it, and that it hasn't defeated not only our city, not only our family members, but it hasn't defeated America. We are much closer together as human beings, and we will live on. We will live on more proud than we have [been] in the past.
What did you want this memorial to say?
Most of the family members and survivors and rescue workers who were involved early on with the memorialization process wanted people to come here and find a source of comfort. We wanted people to come, learn what happened, and know the impact of the violence -- that we're all changed forever. This memorial really represents those who were lost, those who survived, and those whose lives it changed forever. ... It's also here to remind people to be better citizens, to take care of each other and be more responsible in your communities and neighborhoods.
I think this memorial really offers a lot of people hope. That's certainly what I would like for most of the people who come here to learn about -- hope. The one thing we can offer the people of September 11 is hope -- by looking into our eyes and knowing that you can make it as a community, as a family member who has lost a loved one, as a country. People need to learn from people who have been through a tremendous amount of hardship, and move forward in a positive way and try to do what's best as a community.
What did you share with families in New York City about dealing with suffering and about creating a memorial?
Immediately after September 11, we felt the need to help the people of New York City with some of the grieving issues. On September 17, I went to New York City and worked directly with family members and the Red Cross, as well as with chaplains and mental health professionals, going down to the site with family members and allowing them to grieve, to show that their loved one [might] not walk out of the rubble like they first anticipated.
Since that time, it's grown into a relationship with many different family members in New York, as well as the mayor's office, to try to help them cope with some of the long-term effects of grieving -- how some members of a family may grieve differently than others, how that may cause stress within a family unit, how some people in a family unit may have religion and others may not. We've really tried, over the course of the 12 trips that IÔve made to New York City, to help family members cope.
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We wanted to help family members understand the process of memorialization -- not what to build in New York, but how we built it in Oklahoma City. What was appropriate here at this particular site? Why was it 3.3 acres? Why was that enough space? Some of the issues we've really tried to help with were just process. We certainly never want to tell New York City or the Pentagon or Shanksville what to do with the memorial. We just want to help them with the process of memorialization. If they can learn a little bit from us, it'll make their memorial just that much more beautiful.
What did you have to wrestle with in planning a memorial here?
Number one was the mission statement. What did we want this memorial to say? It took us two years to develop, so that tells you how difficult it was wrestling with every single word. That statement is what this entire memorial is about. It truly drives the entire memorialization process -- what the focus should be, what's appropriate. I'll read a little bit of it: "We come here to remember those who were killed, those who survived, and those who were changed forever. May all who leave here know the impact of violence. May this memorial offer comfort, strength, peace, hope and serenity."
What do you feel when you come to this memorial?
Peace. This memorial grounds me. It really grounds my soul. Every time I come here, God places His hands on my shoulder and walks with me. That's what this memorial offers. It gives me a sense of peace, and it's unexplainable. It didn't come the first year, and it didn't come the second year. It took a long time for that peace to come. God's all around, and He takes care of us.
Has this memorial, then, deepened or affected your own faith?
The bombing in 1995 affected my religion. It tested it, obviously. But after 17 days in a family assistance center, when your priest from your home parish is sitting with you every single day and helping you find your way, you can never say thank you enough.
I don't know that it's strengthened my beliefs. It's certainly cemented them and made them a part of my life forever. That's the reason why you name your daughter "Faith" -- to move forward. Our family has had to suffer a tremendous sacrifice. But out of that comes life, much like the Survivor Tree here. It took a terrible attack, but it has survived and it has flourished, because of care and because of somebody watching over us. We're very grateful.
So this is a spiritual place for you?
This is a very spiritual place for me. It gives me a lot of peace in my heart. It gives me much more peace than a cemetery can provide me, personally.
Is there a connection between what Oklahoma City and this memorial mean and the World Trade Center site and what that may mean for people?
There are certainly a lot of similarities and things that are just absolutely different -- the size of the event. But there are lots of similarities -- families waiting, trying to find loved ones, the pictures of loved ones being posted all over the city, very much the same here in Oklahoma City. I have a T-shirt with my mother's picture on it that I had made within 36 hours of this building being exploded. So I understand some of the things that other family members have gone through, especially the wait to recover loved ones. And, really, the attack here in Oklahoma City was on America. It just happened to be from a domestic source. And the attack on the World Trade Center was against America. It's the very same hatred that was involved in both terrorists.
What did you think when you first saw the design here with the memorial chairs?
You know, I wasn't real positive about it. The first time I was really moved was when they were right in the middle of construction here, and I came up to the plaza one day. This was dirt -- all of it. I saw every one of these guys with hard hats on with a memorial sticker on their hard hat. I had all the faith in the world it'd be OK.
It's not just the chair. The chair is a part of this sacred ground, but it's this grass, it's this ground, it's this soil. A part of my mom is here. That's the reason it's so important to us that the footprint of the building is sacred. It's so easy to understand when you're actually here. It's a part of all of us. This is America's sacred ground.
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