I recently spoke to the Byng School student body as part of Journey of Hope, a program from the Oklahoma City National Memorial, about my experience as a journalist covering the terrorist bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City on April 19, 1995.

At the end of the session, organizers opened the floor to questions from the students, and they all asked good questions. I thought the most interesting question was, “What were you feeling as you covered this event?”

I thought it was an interesting question because I had no hesitation in answering: I was thinking about how I was going to do my job.

I think this is probably true for everyone who strives to do their work in situations fueled by stress and adrenalin. That can be everyone from school teachers to air traffic controllers to firefighters to nurses.

What we were feeling that day was the urgency of the moment. There was very real work to do, and we were all simply going to do it.

There were certainly moments of shock, especially when we in the media got our first in-person look at the scene and the enormity of the damage, but I, and all my other peers in the media, simply set that aside and started making decisions: what film, what lens, what angle, should I move, should I stay put, who can we talk to, who has more information.

Our feelings about the events of that day would wait.