I recently spent a long weekend in Oklahoma City to promote my recent project, an anthology of veteran’s which encompasses many veterans, from many walks of life, and many experiences. With the exception of career, there is nothing any of us have in common. Not in interests, culture, upbringing, style, attire, absolutely nothing.
As we all know, Oklahoma City has the displeasure of being the location of one of the saddest parts of US history. On April 19, 1995, Timothy McVeigh parked a U-Haul truck full of fertilizer and explosives, rigged to explode, targeting the Alfred P. Murrah federal building, found between North Harvey and North Robinson Avenues.
The bomb killed 168 people inside the building, and injured 680, and effectively destroyed half of the building, not to mention causing serious damage for 16 blocks.
McVeigh’s plot, which was assisted by Terry Nichols, came about because of their ideological views, and their disagreement with the actions taken by government at Ruby Ridge, Idaho, and Waco, Texas. In both instances, federal agents began investigations into firearms and other weapons acquired by the groups at each location, and whether it was legal to possess them. In both instances, there has been wide disagreement about the volume of illegal weapons that each group had, but in the end, what was factually reported by our federal agencies was a small amount of truly illegal weapons, that on their own, may not have garnered the aggressive investigative efforts that the groups initially garnered.
However, while the motivation of these two men is still subject of some debate, what I want to talk about is their actions. McVeigh had said publicly that he was not aware of a daycare being located in the building, making that discovery over the course of his “canvassing” or scouting of the building.
He passed over another federal building he targeted, because it had a florist shop. But yet, when actually walking inside the Murrah Building, he managed to miss the fully-windowed day care, in the hall lobby. He was asked about this on the stand, and said had he known there were children present, it might have given him pause.
Regardless, I can’t imagine the disillusionment McVeigh had to visit daily to carry out this plan. And the fact is that he left the area, and if not for a traffic violation 90 minutes later, he might still be out in the wind today.
During my trip, I spoke to many long-time OKC locals, who spoke about the tremendous healing affect that this incident had on the entire city. At the time, OKC was an unsafe place to be. There were strong-arm robberies at will, muggings, break-ins, and wide spread violent crime that seemed to target strangers to the actors at an elevated rate.
But the sheer violence of McVeigh’s act brought the entire city together. By and large, the citizens realized that life in OKC could not continue down the path it was, and maintain a place that people would want to live in, let alone spend any time in.
Since that ever tragic day, OKC has rebuilt much of it’s downtown, has worked hard to bringing relevant artistic elements to the area, to celebrate the many communities that make up the city, and to embrace the uniqueness and charm that only can be identified as being that of OKC.
Today we see a very similar scenario playing out at the national level. We have extremists on the left and right scales of political ideology battling one another on city streets, throughout our entire country. We no longer have room to speak with others, especially others that are determined to talk in rhetoric and circular logic. There may be true value in ignoring such tactics, but it does not mean it’s wise to ignore the person.
It doesn’t mean you need to treat them differently either. It does mean we need to decide individually what it is that we hold dear, truly. I for one want an immigration system that will be followed and respected. That doesn’t mean I want immigrants to be shunned, or foresaken, or to have previous agreements ripped away. None of that holds to American values, and we would be foolish to engage in such third world politicking.
At the same time, there are people that want to vilify those like me who stand for a rule of law that is pragmatic, and sound. They are extremists, just as those who chanted over and over again that building a wall is a solution. We should not be so ignorant to identify that both these views are extreme, and truly have no business guiding our country.
At the same time, I respect that there are those that view my words as some sort of threat. Technically they might be. But there is no intention of threatening anyone, and having sound, pragmatic law is not a threat to anyone, except to those that break the law. Perhaps that sounds circular. But consider our past. If we did not have sound laws that respected a true view of right and wrong, would we have made it as far as we have? Would the US still be what it is, after nearly 250 years of existence?
I appreciate ideology, it’s a great place to start from. But ideology can’t be the only thing guiding rules, law, how we think, or what we fight for. When you do, you produce extremism.
And quite honestly, one need to go no further than 620 North Harvey Avenue in Oklahoma City to see what raw ideology produces. The aftermath of which is something too hard to stare at. Admittedly, I cry so much when I visit the Memorial that I can’t even make it to the museum. This time I got in the door, and 45 seconds later bolted back out. I don’t want to live in the aftermath of the Memorial every second in this country, everywhere I go, and I don’t believe anyone else here wants to either.
It’s going to take everyone who’s shouting for their cause to sit down, truly consider what it is they are saying. If all you are doing is spouting ideology, you are not helping, and it would be best for all of us if you stopped and found a quiet place to park yourself. You are adding only vitriol, in both what you say, and who you say it to. It’s not going to produce anything positive.
Be honest with yourself, no matter where you sit on the spectrum, because more than ever we need both sides to accept that there are some very wrong things they are promoting, and there are some very right things they are promoting.
If you are idolizing people within your spectrum, that’s not helping us either. No matter who’s President, they are only as effective as Congress, and we haven’t had an effective Congress in many years. You can’t blame that on any President.
Don’t think of this as a call to centrism, because it’s not. True functioning ideas to fix problems need to prevail, no matter where they come from. Fabrications, “full-court presses,” and ideology are not going to help us get any of the solutions that we truly need.
In the beginning I mentioned how the group of veterans that I worked with on this project, Walk with Warriors, came from very different backgrounds, and very different places in life. But somehow, we came together, vividly. We didn’t know each other before, and it may be difficult for us to stay in touch after, but we came together as one and continued in that vain as we worked to promote our project, and reach an audience we didn’t define. Time will tell if we were successful, but we tried, and never fought with each other over ideology. It may seem a small, mild example, but it’s people working together. I’d like to think if we can do this, then the rest of us can do this too. We can be big boys and big girls, who sacrifice our ideology, for what it is truly fair and beneficial for all.
For my part, I think after visiting the Memorial, I’m going to search my own ideas and see what really matters, because it’s only fair that if I issue this call to action that I embody it.
Perhaps the future will find me in an even better place. Until next time!
Matthew Ballantyne 