Let me take a moment.

April 19, 2014 marks the 19th anniversary of the bombing of the  Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. There are tragedies from time to time in the world, each one raising sorrowful feelings in me, but this one was so unexpected and so close to home.I have spent the morning thinking about that day, where I was, what I saw.

I was just a kid when the bombing took place. I had turned six years old in March, just 20 days before the bombing. On that day, I remember seeing little kids like me, some younger even, hurt or confirmed dead. I didn't fully understand what was happening. I only knew that my heart hurt because I couldn't fathom why someone would or could do something so awful to people and children who they didn't even know, who hadn't done anything to deserve what happened to them.

Now, nearly two decades have gone by. I've grown. I've seen hate in the world. But the same hurt remains in my heart. The same lack of understanding lingers because I just can't imagine how someone could be so malicious. We, as a people, as a state, as a nation, even, have rebuilt. We have banded together, cried together, started to heal together, and remembered together, year after year. This year, undoubtedly, will be no different. Though it has been 19 years now, it is fresh in our minds.

As we think back to that day, 19 years ago, we will remember the lives taken, the families affected, the survivors made, the men and women suddenly forced into heroism by their brave actions, and the feelings we felt as we watched the fragile veil of happiness crumble with the building. But let's also remember the incredulous feeling, the complete disbelief that something so awful could have happened. Let us remember the confusion of how such a day, such a cruelty could exist, so that we can remember that there's still good in the world. So that we can remember there is hope.