When I first heard the news about the killing of Bin Laden, I actually texted a friend asking “Do you think anyone will care?” I figured enough time had passed and, with our current problems being much greater, the news would be met with a healthy, but somber feeling of justice and piece of mind.
Boy was I wrong.
If you’ve been watching the news, you’ve been bombarded with images of parties in the streets and exclamations from American citizens regarding their American pride. And though I may sound like a complete asshole for saying this, and fully admit I may be downplaying the event, I think its sad that a murder of a terrorist who got lucky ten years ago and hasn’t been relevant since is what makes someone “proud to be an American.”
9/11 was no doubt a horrific tragedy, one that accounted for a tremendous loss of life and one that changed the landscape of America both socially and politically. But, as mentioned in my previous post, the murder of Osama doesn’t change any of that. Not even a little. In fact, I doubt anyone went to bed last week fearing the wrath of Osama Bin Laden. After the 9/11 attacks occurred, he went off to hide in Pakistan while Al Qaeda was given for too much credit as a legitimate threat. Now, ten years later, we found the apparent mastermind of the attacks and American citizens are parading through the streets as if he was the sole reason for all that ails us.
But he’s not. I’m honestly surprised that public reaction was not more reserved. It’s great that justice was served, but I’m not sure why death is ever celebrated. I’m glad it brings piece of mind to families that lost loved ones, but the death of Osama certainly will never bring them back. It serves as another building block towards the recovery of the American psyche, but the public outcries of “don’t mess with America” into TV cameras comes off as bullyish (for lack of a better term) and proves our priorities are entirely out of whack.
I think it’s telling that the Osama murder happened the same weekend as the royal wedding in England. British citizens took to the streets to celebrate their British heritage through a symbol of family, love, and companionship. While the event to cause Americans to do the same is the murder of an inept terrorist leader that has barely been heard from in a decade.
Jesus don't like killing, no matter what the reason for. People should have been praying.
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