    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1996, Book I)]
    [April 5, 1996]
    [Pages 547-549]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks to the Families of the Victims of the 1995 Bombing in
    Oklahoma City
    April 5, 1996

        Thank you very much. Thank you so much, Reverend Alexander. Governor
    Keating, Mrs. Keating, Mr. Mayor, Senator Nickles, Lieutenant Governor
    Fallin, Congressman Brewster, Congressman Istook; most of all to the
    families here of those who lost their lives and those who survived the
    bombing almost a year ago.
        I come here today as much as anything else to thank you. On this
    very difficult and painful day for me, when I have lost a great and good
    friend and a lot of gifted employees of the Fed-

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    eral Government, some of them very young, and some wonderful members of
    our Armed Forces and some of our Nation's most able business leaders,
    the power of your example is very much with me, and I thank you for
    that.
        A year ago we were here to join in mourning your loss and praying
    for your healing. Today I ask that we not only remember your loss but
    celebrate the rebuilding you have already done and the work you will
    still do.
        I have relived the moments of last year many times in my mind since
    I was here with you. I have wondered how you were doing and prayed for
    your strength. I was honored to have two of your citizens at the State
    of the Union Address and to recognize their unique contributions to our
    country through their service to you.
        Just a few moments ago I was honored to lay a wreath, along with the
    First Lady and some children who survived and their parents, and then to
    dedicate the child care center that will be built near the site of the
    bombing, thanks to the remarkable efforts of your public officials and
    private citizens together. You have shown how strong you are, and you
    have given us all an example of the power of faith and community, the
    power of both God's grace and human courage.
        On this Good Friday, what you have done has demonstrated to a
    watching and often weary and cynical world that good can overcome evil,
    that love can outlast hate, that the light of human life can shine on
    through the most terrible darkness. And so I thank you for that. And I
    know that you could not have done it without your faith.
        On this Friday I can't help noting that there is a wonderful verse
    in the Book of Matthew which says that a person who follows the word of
    God will be likened unto a wise man who built his house on a rock. ``And
    the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat
    upon the house, and it fell not, for it was founded upon a rock.'' Well,
    your building was blown down, and many lives were shattered. But today I
    saw again that the spirit of Oklahoma City fell not, for it is founded
    upon a rock. And I thank you for showing that to America.
        From the early rescue efforts that so many engaged in to the
    scholarship funds for the children who lost their parents, to the
    current outpouring of support that will enable families to travel to
    Denver for the trial, to the dedication ceremony I just attended, I see
    over and over and over again that you have redeemed the promise of
    essential human nature and human possibility that we celebrate so
    profoundly in this season. And what I want you to know is that, in doing
    that, you have renewed the faith of America. You have drawn our national
    family closer together.
        A year ago I was able to come here and say to you that ``You have
    lost too much, but you have not lost everything. You have not lost
    America.'' In the year since, America has stood with you and prayed with
    you and worked with you as you rebuild. But today I come to you to say
    you have given America something precious, a greater sense of our shared
    humanity, our common values, our obligations to one another. You've
    taken some of the meanness out of our national life and put a little
    more love and respect into it, in ways that you probably cannot even
    imagine. And I thank you for that.
        I will call on all Americans to express their solidarity with you
    when you celebrate the first anniversary of your tragedy. Earlier today
    I signed a proclamation calling for a moment of silence across our land
    on April the 19th at 9:02 a.m., Central Daylight Time, to ask the
    American people to gather in silent prayer and quiet reflection with
    their friends and neighbors, wherever they live, from Maine to Alaska,
    to southern California, to Florida.
        And let me say to all of you again, we will be there with you. But
    because of what you have felt and what you have endured, let me ask you
    now if you will bow your heads in silent prayer to remember all that
    this year has meant to you and to pray for those who lost their loved
    ones on that plane in Bosnia. Only you can know how they feel.
        May we pray.

    [At this point, a moment of silence was observed.]

        Amen.
        I would like to say a special word now to some of the people who
    were involved here a year ago: To the Federal workers who survived the
    blast and are back on the job, we're glad, and we support you. To those
    who are not yet back on the job, we will stand with you until the day
    you are able to work again. To those who lost their lives in the service
    of their country, trying to help America get through every

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    day in the best possible way, we thank you, your families, beyond
    measure.
        Before Hillary and I left the White House this morning, we planted a
    new dogwood tree on the South Lawn to honor the memory of those who died
    in the crash in Bosnia. It is very near the one we planted a year ago,
    before we came to be with you for the first time, in honor of the loved
    ones that you lost. A year ago I noted that the dogwood tree embodies
    the lesson of the Psalms that the life of a good person is like a tree
    whose leaf does not wither; that just as a tree takes a long time to
    grow, sometimes wounds take a long time to heal. Well, your tree has
    taken root on the South Lawn of the White House. In a few weeks it will
    flower. The healing power of our faith has also taken root and must
    bloom again here.
        You know, this Easter Sunday all over the world the over 1.5 billion
    people who are Christians will be able to bear witness to our faith that
    the miracles of Jesus and the miracles of the human spirit in Oklahoma
    City only reflect the larger miracle of human nature that there is
    something eternal within each of us, that we all have to die, and that
    no bomb can blow away, even from the littlest child, that eternity which
    is within each of us.
        I know a lot of you are still hurting, but I hope as Sunday comes
    you'll be able to find some comfort in that. Your healing has to go on.
    A lot of you probably still have your doubts about all of this. I'm sure
    there's some lingering anger and even some rage and dark and lonely
    nights for many of the family members. I can only say to you that the
    older I get the more I know that we have to try harder to make the most
    of each day and accept the fact that things will happen we can never
    understand or justify.
        We flew over my home State, you know, coming here, and it made me
    think of the words of an old gospel song that were actually written in
    Arkansas. And I thought I would leave you with these words, and our love
    and respect, as we move toward Easter.
        The hymn goes:

          Further along we'll know all about it.
          Further along we'll understand why.
          Rise up, my brothers, and walk in the sunshine.
          Further along we'll understand why.

        God bless you, and God bless America.

    Note: The President spoke at 1:20 p.m. in the Myriad Convention Center.
    In his remarks, he referred to Rev. Don Alexander, pastor, First
    Christian Church; and Cathy Keating, wife of Gov. Frank Keating of
    Oklahoma. The proclamation is listed in Appendix D at the end of this
    volume.