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Welcome to Stuff I Learned Yesterday. My name is Darrell Darnell, I dropped out of college after my sophomore year, and I believe if you aren’t learning, you aren’t living. In today’s episode of Stuff I Learned Yesterday I share a story of hope inspired by my recent trip to Las Vegas.
Today’s Fun Fact of the Day is: Did you know that today is Look Alike Day? Look Alike Day is a day to find someone you really look up to, and try to look like them. You could cut and style your hair to look like the person you’ve selected to look like. Then, select items from your wardrobe (or buy some new clothes!) that your lookalike wears. And make sure to practice and copy their walk, their talk, and their facial expressions. In other words, try to be as identical to that person as possible. I’ve decide to try to look and act like my other brother Darrell today.
Friday Forum
I want you to be a part of the Friday Forum! Friday Forum is your opportunity to Share what YOU’VE learned, so that other listeners and I can learn from YOU. It can be a message as short as 30 seconds or several minutes long. It really doesn’t matter just as long as it’s something that will benefit others. You can participate in Friday Forum by visiting our Feedback Page or calling our voice feedback line at 304-837-2278.
What I Learned Yesterday:
Today’s story begins on the morning of April 13, 2015. I’m currently sitting comfortably at 45,000 feet above the earth as a highly trained Southwest Airlines pilot takes me from Oklahoma City to Las Vegas.
My day began when my alarm went off at 5:30am. For a guy that normally stays up until after midnight and sets the alarm for 7:45am, hearing that alarm this morning was not a welcomed sound. On top of that, it was raining. It was a nice steady rain, almost the kind that makes you want to stay in bed all day and just enjoy the dulcet sounds of raindrops meeting rooftop. If not for the occasional but steady clap of thunder and flash of lightning, the rain would have been perfect.
Near perfect or not, I had to get up. I quickly showered, packed up my last couple of items, told my family goodbye, and headed for the airport. Once out on the road I wished I’d stayed in bed. The rain and darkness made it nearly impossible for me to see the lane markers, and my defroster didn’t seem to be working. At times I was totally unaware if I was actually in one lane or two, but fortunately I made it to the airport without harming me, my car, or anyone else. I didn’t even get honked at.
Getting through airport security was incredibly fast and I made it to my gate in record time. Looking out through the windows to the tarmac, I watched the rain continue to pour down and water the Oklahoma prairie.
Boarding time quickly arrived and we all found out seats on the winged tube that would carry us half way across the country. I found my way to a seat and watched as the rain landed on and ran down the window. We began our taxi to the runway and as we picked up speed the water changed from its course of running from the top of the window to the bottom of the window, to a path the took it from the front of the window to the back of the window.
A moment later we lifted off the prairie and began our ascent into the sky above. The clouds hung low and we were quickly in their midst. I looked out through the window at a view completely enveloped by clouds, anticipating the newly risen sun that would greet me as we came up above them. However, that’s not what happened.
Instead, once we came through the low hanging rain clouds, we entered into a space between the rain clouds and another layer of clouds. The sky was brighter, but not sunny at all. Below me all I could see were rain clouds, and above me all I could see was more clouds. Not only that, but this space between the cloud layers was bumpy. The flight had been smoother down in the rain.
Our pilot kept the nose up and kept ascending. Bump after bump came, but he stayed on course. Eventually we reached the other cloud layer. Much to my delight we passed through that cloud layer and entered into smooth clear blue sky.
At this point I knew I had a SILY episode. There is so much metaphor and application in what I’ve just shared. I dwelled on my thoughts for a while, thinking about how I’d put them onto paper and into this episode. Then I spotted the Southwest magazine in the seat pocket. As I thumbed through it, my eye immediately spotted an article about my city.
The article was called Oklahoma City: 20 Years of Progress by Ben Marshall. You see, yesterday marked the 20 year anniversary of the day that Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols blew up a fertilizer bomb at the base of the Alfred P. Murrah federal building in downtown Oklahoma City. 168 people lost their lives, 19 of them children.
The article shared many of the things that I talked about in the episode of SILY that I did one year ago to honor the 19th anniversary of the tragedy. You can hear that in episode 22 of SILY.
The article was inspiring. Ben talked about the decision that Oklahoma City had to make to either move forward with plans to revitalize our downtown district, or hold off for a better day. City officials decided that moving forward would BRING that better day. They wisely saw that April 19, 1995 would be a day that would live in infamy for Oklahoma City, and we could either allow it to bring us down, or lift us up.
The article pointed out that we pushed forward with our development of the downtown area and it spurred a boom of excitement, pride, growth, life, hope, and tourism. The article pointed out the improvements and commitments Oklahoma City has made to athletics, arts, education, and commerce.
Here’s what I learned.
On April 19, 1995, Oklahoma City found themselves under a dark raincloud. It was hard to see the road ahead. At times it seemed easier and more comforting to stay in bed and pull the covers over our head. But we pressed on.
Piloted by skilled city leaders, we kept our nose pointed upward and followed the course we’d set out to reach. At times we thought we had broken through to daylight only to find ourselves in the midst of a bumpy road that lay in the middle of where we came from and where we were going. But then it happened. We broke through to blue skies. We rose above the clouds of despair, debris, defeat, and discouragement.
Now as I type this, remember that I’m at 45,000 feet. I haven’t yet reached my destination, and neither has the city I call home. In fact, unlike this airplane I’m on, our city will never reach it’s destination because we’ll always be pushing toward the next goal.
But let me encourage you today. Whether you’re in bed thinking it would be better to stay there, blindly navigating the road in front of you, or pushing through the clouds, have hope. Maybe you’ve just broken through a layer of life that you thought would bring you smooth sailing, but it’s only brought you to a spot that was rougher than before. Have hope. Keep your nose pointed up and stay the course. You will rise above. You will reach your destination. You can do it, I know you can.
Lastly, Ben picked up on something that a lot of people don’t write about when they talk about our city. It’s something we call the Oklahoma Standard. The Oklahoma Standard came to the forefront in the moments immediately after the bombing and it has been proven to be part of our culture time and time again as we’ve endured horrific tornadoes and other tragedies.
The Oklahoma Standard is what drives us to drop what we’re doing and help our neighbor. It causes us to forget about our own need and see to the needs of others first. It draws us together, makes us stronger, and propels us forward.
Ben mentioned an initiative to commemorate the 20th anniversary that is asking Oklahomans to recommit to the Oklahoma Standard this month by performing one act of service, honor, and kindness in a spirit of giving.
You see, none of us travel this road alone and no matter our place along life’s journey or our current plight, we can always help, love, sacrifice, and give. And when we do, even if for a brief time, we will suddenly find ourselves soaring above the clouds.
I’m Darrell Darnell and this has been stuff I learned yesterday.
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