[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 37, Number 8 (Monday, February 26, 2001)]
[Pages 312-313]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks at the Dedication of the National Memorial Center Museum in 
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

February 19, 2001

    Thank you, Senator, for your kind words. Thank you all very much. 
Thank you very much. Mr. Governor, thank you very much. The picture was 
a better picture. [Laughter]
    Laura and I are honored to be here. I want to thank the choirs for 
their beautiful music. I want to thank the congressional delegation for 
your hospitality. Mr. Mayor, thank you very much. It's good to see you 
again, sir.
    I appreciate so very much the tour of the Memorial Center we just 
took. It is a really well-done place. It's powerful. Bob Johnson, you 
and your board deserve a lot of credit.
    I particularly want to thank our tour guides, Jeannine Gist and 
Richard Williams and Major Ed Hill. A lot of Americans are going to come 
and be better people for having walked through this Center.
    I want to thank the families of the victims, the survivors, and the 
fine citizens of the great State of Oklahoma for your welcome.
    One of the things that we remember of that day in 1995 is the 
conduct of the leaders of Oklahoma--Oklahoma City and of your State, 
particularly your Governor and his great wife, Cathy. You had just taken 
office, Frank, and yet, in the aftermath of the awful moment you showed 
such character and strength. America came to admire that, and the people 
of Oklahoma will never forget it.
    Americans found a lot to admire in Oklahoma during those days. You 
suffered so much, and you responded with courage. Your loss was great, 
and your pain was deep, but far greater and deeper was your care for one 
another. That is what lasts, and that's what brings us back to this 
place on this day.
    Memorials do not take away the pain. They cannot fill the emptiness. 
But they can make a place in time and tell the value of what was lost. 
The debris is gone, and the building is no more. Now, this is a place of 
peace and remembrance and life.
    A mother who lost her daughter here will be working in the new 
museum. She said, ``When I come down here to the memorial I've always 
felt a very good feeling. This is where she was happy, and this is where 
she was last. The time for mourning may pass, but the time for 
remembering never does.''
    Here, we remember one act of malice. The Gates of Time record the 
very moment of it. Yet, we also remember many acts of human kindness and 
heroism and love. Some were recorded, some not. But by 9:03 on that 
morning, a new and hopeful story was already being written. The truth of 
Oklahoma City is the courage and comfort you found in one another. It 
began with the rescue; it continues with this memorial; it is recorded 
in this museum.
    Together, you endured. You chose to live out the words of Saint 
Paul, ``Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.'' Because 
of this spirit, your memorial belongs to all America. People from all 
over our country come here every day and will always come to look and 
remember and say a prayer. Oklahoma City will always be one of those 
places in our national memory where the worst and the best both came to 
pass.
    The presence of evil always reminds us of the need for vigilance. 
All of us have an obligation to confront evil wherever and whenever it 
manifests itself. We must enforce laws and reject hatred and bigotry, 
and we have a duty to watch for warning signs.

[[Page 313]]

    Last year the United States Secret Service conducted a study of 
targeted violence in our Nation's schools. They found that most of the 
time, the person who planned the violence told someone before the 
attack. In almost every case, the individual displayed some behavior 
that caused others to be concerned. We all have a duty to watch for and 
report troubling signs.
    The evil that destroys and the good that saves are equally real. 
Both can be taught. Both can be learned. All order in our society begins 
in the souls of citizens. Character is often shaped or bent early in 
life. In every family and in every school, we must teach our children to 
know and choose the good, to teach values that defeat violence, to teach 
good kids--kids to respect one another, to do unto others, the meaning 
of love.
    Our first response to evil must be justice; yet a part of us is 
never satisfied by justice alone. We must search for more--for 
understanding and healing beyond punishment. Faith tells us that all 
wrongs are righted and all suffering redeemed. But that faith is tested, 
especially for those of you with empty chairs at home. Hardest of all is 
the loss of the children, of the lives taken so soon after they were 
given.
    I hope it helps to remember that we are never closer to God than 
when we grieve. Faith is tested in suffering. And faith is often born in 
suffering, for that is when we seek the hope we most need; that is when 
we awaken to the greatest hope there is; that is when we look beyond our 
lives to the hour when God will wipe away every tear, and death will be 
swallowed up in victory.
    On this Earth, tragedy may come even on a warm spring day, but 
tragedy can never touch eternity. This is where they were last, but 
beyond the Gates of Time lie a life eternal and a love everlasting. You 
in Oklahoma City are victims of tragedy and witnesses to hope. You have 
overcome evil, and you have suffered with courage. And for that, your 
Nation is grateful.
    God bless.

Note: The President spoke at 12:50 p.m. on the lawn at the Oklahoma City 
National Memorial. In his remarks, he referred to Senator Don Nickles; 
Gov. Frank Keating of Oklahoma; Mayor Kirk Humphreys of Oklahoma City; 
Robert M. Johnson, chair, and Richard Williams, member, Board of 
Trustees, Oklahoma City National Memorial; and Jeannine Gist and Major 
Ed Hill, members, Board of Directors, Oklahoma City National Memorial 
Foundation.