This weekend was the eighth anniversary of the Murrah Building Bombing in Oklahoma City. Still the greatest incident of domestic terrorism in the U.S. committed by a citizen. The Memorial is a striking model of non-sectarian prayerfulness created by committee. The reflecting pool, as I have remarked in the past, is a sort of time machine which allows the viewer to re-enter the events of that day. The empty chairs on the north side of the pool bear silent witness to the human cost suffered that day.

Dean Back, of St. Paul's Episcopal Cathedral, has recently been comparing his feelings concerning the bombing to anamnesis. As Dean Back explains it, just the mention of April 19 inspires a physical reaction — the churning in the stomach, the fevered nerves, the profound fugue state. This is no mere intellectual "remembrance"; it is a full-bodied re-entry to the historical event. This is the mystic experience our Jewish friends seek at Passover, and it is the same experience Jesus invites when he says at the Last Supper, "Do this in remembrance of me."

So the weekly Spiritual Walk for Peace was more meaningful this week as it took place in the shadow of that anniversary. This was emphasized by Frank Silovsky's presentation. Mr. Silovsky is a man who could rightfully be counted as a victim.

Mrs. Silovsky was working on the eighth floor of the Federal Building on April 19, 1995. Frank was teaching at the time of the blast. When he finished teaching, he went to the school library to read. One of the librarians came to him and asked if he had heard about the bombing. He immediately drove to downtown OKC.

Police barricades were already up by this point, so Frank had to park several blocks north of "ground zero." Just as he got to the former site of the Federal Building, with some hope of learning whether his wife was among the survivors, there were intimations of a second bomb inside the building; the rescue workers and crowds were immediately pushed back.

Feeling increasingly frustrated, he went to his daughter's office. The receptionist at the office did not know how to contact the daughter. Mr. Silovsky tried to communicate the urgency of reaching his daughter. Finally the receptionist understood the source of his concern and reported that his wife had called their daughter to say she was home.

He went home to discover his wife covered in blood and insulation. Mrs. Silovsky had been depressed for several months prior to the bombing, and this event exacerbated her depression. Six months after the bombing, she took her own life by means of a drug overdose.

Frank's presentation was very moving. I was impressed by his courage in re-telling the story, even through his own tears. Like many others affected by the OKC Bombing, he seeks non-violent ways to resolve conflicts (rather than vengeance). Reconciliation rather than conflict.

Frank's ultimate point was that the bombing we experienced in downtown Oklahoma City was a "firecracker" in comparison to the "shock & awe" experienced over the past four weeks by the people of Iraq.

His story was fresh in my mind as we walked by the 9:01 gate on the east side of the memorial. My own history was also brought to mind, though much less in comparison, for I believe that my marriage was also a victim of the bombing.

And so, I felt tears of my own echoing Frank's tears as we walked on the east side, by the 9:03 gate. This is where a wide variety of mementos have been left — both in memory of that tragic day, and now in memory of more recent tragedies (i.e., the events of 9/11/01). And so my tears joined with Frank's tears, and they joined the tears flowing into the Tigris & Euphrates.