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Sunday night, Charlotte was all snug in her bed. I took Marc up to bed shortly after, and then came down for my usual ritual of Facebook, Netflix, and chattin' with my hubby. It was typical. Not much to report. Until I read something a friend posted:
"Bin Laden dead! Finally! Go USA!"
I looked up from my computer at my husband, who is generally on top of the news better than I am. "Sweetie," I said. "Did you hear anything about Osama Bin Laden today?" He shook his head and said no. I told him what I was seeing on my computer, so he paused that episode of Roseanne we were watching on Netflix and turned on the actual TV.
According to every channel, Osama Bin Laden had been killed. Obama was speaking, eloquently as usual. (Say what you will about Obama, he's still a fabulous speaker.) I saw scenes of people cheering, and the internet was flooded with US citizens expressing their jubilation over the death of America's most hated person.
Go USA.
My thoughts at that moment were memories of September 11, 2001. I was pregnant with Marc at the time. Big pregnant. I drove through the bank that morning and the bank teller told me about some plane accident in New York. It sounded horrible. I went to work as usual at the pet store I helped manage at the time, and a customer came in to tell me that I should turn on a radio. America was being attacked, she said.
I turned on the TV in the back room, and that was when I saw the second plane hit the World Trade Center. I brought a little radio out into the store where our few customers, another employee, and I listened intently to the coverage of what was soon later revealed to be an attack. NPR then broadcast something horrifying to me, and bothers me still to this day. It was a live broadcast from Afgahnistan of people cheering in the streets.
People were cheering over the destruction of the World Trade Center and the deaths of hundreds of Americans. How awful! I thought. How could people take such joy in the deaths of hundreds of innocent people? Why did they hate us so much? I cried. Sure, pregnancy hormones were involved. But the thought of an entire country celebrating death? How could I not cry?
Back to Sunday night. I was having this memory as I watched the news and read comments online. My neighbor called me to talk about it. The whole country was buzzing, and the whole country was celebrating death.
An entire country celebrating death. How could I not cry?
Osama Bin Laden was a bad, bad man. His actions have not only caused hundreds of innocent New Yorkers to be killed, but they also spawned a war and caused the deaths of thousands more. In fact, I think it's fair to say the only way to ensure that this man could do no more harm would be to kill him.
However, in our family, we teach our children to celebrate life. Forgive me if I can't celebrate death, even the death of a bad, bad man.
We can argue that his death won't change the past, or even end the war. But what it really comes down to is that my memory of nine and a half years ago and what I witnessed Sunday night were eerily similar. Our country is celebrating because we believe that we are right and we have thwarted a horrible evil. Over nine years ago, some Middle-Easterners believed they were right and that they have thwarted a horrible evil. In no way am I excusing Bin Laden for the evil he unleashed on the world. I'm only saying that the two scenes were eerily similar.
So I can't and won't celebrate death. I can't and won't place a judgement on what happened. We can never forget that our country used to be friends with the Taliban, and I, with my limited knowledge of our history with them, can't help but think that we are not entirely innocent ourselves in this whole display.
I have to teach my kids to be better. I have to teach them that we can be better. We can mourn for the losses of lives caused by 9/11, but at the same time we can mourn for the loss of Bin Laden's humanity. He lost that before he lost his life.
When the troops come home, then I will celebrate. When there is peace in the world, then I will celebrate. But when a man is killed, no matter how evil, I will only mourn for his humanity. That is the real loss.
I had a very similar discussion with my kids the other night and we have the same general concensus. Yesterday I discussed it with my dad, who is retired USMC and he shed a different light on it, though I can't jump on his bandwagon. I follow the beat of a different drummer than my parents do and that is okay.I'm disturbed too, at all the celebrating. I don't in any way endorse bin Laden's philosophy, the way he twisted his religion, or his hatred of people he never bothered to know anything about. In the end he was only a man, who died just as you and I would if we were shot in the head. I knew long before the news coming out now, that we just went in there and executed him. There was no attempt to capture him -- because why? Because of the political implications. Never mind ethics or morals, it was all about politics, foreign policy and international legal complexity. Doesn't make me exactly swell with pride. Just four days earlier I was in a Cricket phone store and the young man working there was playing an intriguing music recording, which I inquired about. He informed me that it was not music but someone reading a scripture from the Qu'ran. I was embarrassed at my ignorance but I told him sincerely that I was glad to learn what I was hearing so I could appreciate it better. It was very beautiful and compelling though of course I did not understand the language. I wonder now what that young man is thinking at all of this: does he worry if Americans will revert to a more anti-Muslim attitude, and treat him differently? Will he refrain from playing recordings of the Qu'ran while he works? Will he worry about his safety, or the safety of his family? I just hope this news will fade away into history and we (as a society) can get back to working on peaceful understanding of our neighbors, whatever cultural background, however they may worship, wherever they may have been born, whatever language they speak.Great post Valorie. I believe you have the right attitude about this whole thing and about what to tell your children with regard to the killing of Osama bi Laden. My son and I had the same discussion. I got caught up in the jubilation being shown about bin Laden's death. My 14 year old, like you, keep it real. He's like, hey mom the kiling of a man is a tragedy isn't it, even if he's done bad things, right? So why would people celebrate?" Good post, really.To me, the real tragedy involved in bin Laden's death is the fact that at least one of his children witnessed it (if current reports are to be believed). That bothers me, but not a whole lot else about it does."To me, the real tragedy involved in bin Laden's death is the fact that at least one of his children witnessed it (if current reports are to be believed). That bothers me, but not a whole lot else about it does." Thousands of children watched their parents be murdered on 9/11/2001. I'm sure along with the lessons bin Laden taught his children to hate, he should have taught them about dying too.
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