Time to heal

May 4, 1995

From Correspondent Don Knapp

OKLAHOMA CITY, Oklahoma (CNN) -- The adrenaline is spent. The frenzy of the rescue is replaced by fatigue and emotional let down. ,"I think we have really started to see that right now people are just tired of things, really just pretty tired."

says Mayor Ronald Norick.

Tension ebbed with time. Shock and disbelief gave way to reality, as the search for survivors became a job of recovering the dead. In the end, just two of the known missing remain unaccounted for.

Ultimately, the Federal General Services Administration will decide what to do with the building. There is talk of restoring it, or replacing it, or demolishing it for a memorial park. Nobody wants to rush into a decision.

Norick talks about a memorial. "Somewhere on that site is going to be a memorial for the families and victims. Something that families that are directly affected will want to come and spend time."

Spontaneous, less formal memorials continue to produce a sea of ribbons, curbside shrines and seemingly endless mail. But city officials ask that no more cuddly stuffed animals be sent. They say they are beyond teddy bears.

The memory of what happened here is indelible. But the community's reaction has changed from crisis management to moving on. The tragedy that put this city on the international map is becoming a local matter.

Last week, the areas near the federal building were filled with the antennas and satellite dishes of news organizations. By comparison now, it's virtually empty.

The out-of-towners are leaving. Leisurely good-bye picnics are replacing hurried meals and cat naps. The prescription for recovery is time.

"In a year's time, the physical scars will be gone. There are still families that have not buried their loved ones yet. That has got to happen and then there has to be just some time, you know, to get over it," Norick says.

For those who have buried their dead, two weeks just changes how it hurts. "I still feel sad like I did at first, but I don't know how to explain it. I just feel empty and alone," Edye Smith says.

Her two sons died in the building. When she talked with us two weeks ago, she couldn't bring herself to put away her their clothing at their grandmother's house. "They are still on my dresser. I thought about it the other day and I thought I am going to let her do what she wants to do with their room."

For Edye, memories and a new house help lighten the everpresent weight of loss. She finds some comfort in knowledge that her sons are at peace. "I don't know what they would have faced as teenagers and for me this world is so evil and what happened on April 19th just proves it. I would rather not have my kids living in a world full of hated and evil people."

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Time to heal

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