At 9:02 a.m. on April 19, 1995, the bomb that exploded in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma resonated throughout our nation. In the hours and days that followed there was a lot of speculation about who could have done such a horrific act; but it would soon be learned that Timothy McVeigh had been the mastermind of a twisted plan that killed 168, 19 of whom were children. In the nearly 30 years since this tragedy a lot of people have dissected the events that led up to the sabotage, but through it all, one word seems to come to the surface: hate. How could someone do something like this – and actually attempt to justify what they did? The answer is an uncontrolled and misguided hate for someone or something. Interestingly, much of the pain caused was not felt by McVeigh’s primary targets but by those who were caught up in what he would later call collateral damage.
According to those who are in the know, McVeigh’s “last words” were a copy of a poem by William Ernest Henley called “Invictus”. The final words of that work state, “I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul.”. The irony that McVeigh did not allow those 168 people to share the same control he reserved for himself is not lost on me. Timothy McVeigh’s actions are outside the norm for those who hate, but they remind us of what can happen when we allow anger to go unchecked. Few of us will blow up a building, but how many of us will mistreat others based on our hate?
The contrast to this mass murderer is found in the wisdom of Solomon who observed, “He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit, than he who captures a city.” (Proverbs 16:32). When we learn to control our emotions, not only will our communities be safer, our lives will produce a lasting positive legacy.