Thoughts On Osama Bin Laden's Death

I was on the phone with my mom last night, shooting the proverbial breeze, when she said, "Turn on the news. Osama Bin Laden's dead." She very nearly hung up on me. Over the next few hours, glued to the t.v. the news of Bin Laden's death was explained to the American public, and I was awash with a variety of emotions.

I wasn't able to put a feeling on the emotion at the time, but now I recognize it as a sense of wary relief. I did not feel joy. I did not want to cheer his death. I did want to open the front door and shout "Osama Bin Laden's dead!" because shouting it out loud seemed like the only way to shake my disbelief.

I was moved by the people singing the national anthem in front of the White House. But as the crowd swelled, cheered, waved flags, and danced, I associated their action immediately with those in the Middle East after the news of 9/11 reached them. Is there any joy in death? I cannot believe that there is. Do I feel relief? Yes, an apprehensive relief that I'm almost certain won't last. Do I feel like the U.S. has accomplished a goal that we have been working to achieve for ten years - my entire adult life? Yes, absolutely. This is the biggest victory we have achieved. But joy and celebration is not something that I feel.

Isn't it wrong to celebrate someone's death? I'm not saying that this man was a good person - because he was anything but that. But the cheering and celebrating of death, isn't that one thing that we all condemned so many Muslims for? Celebration is only encouraging hatred and ignorance.

My friend Steph posted this Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. quote:

"I mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy. Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that."

It's as if there is finally a glimmer of light at the end of a ten year tunnel. That little tiny glimmer - far, far away - gives me hope. I am proud to be an American, and I think that this is an exciting moment in history. After ten years of chasing after what seemed like nothing more than idea, we finally have something to show for it. It's the first concrete evidence that we have set out to do what we said that we would do. So today I am proud of the service men and women who made the operation possible, and I am proud of my country for enduring for this long. But it's pride I feel - not rejoice, and I hope that other people are able to distinguish the two.

Some food for thought news articles from CNN and NPR.