I awoke to see the news of Osama bin Laden's death. I was amazed at the peace that washed over me in that moment. Amazed and a little frightened to revel in the death of a human being, who even though I can't possibly understand how, was loved and forgiven (if he had wanted it) by God.
It strikes me after a few minutes of thinking about this, how we got the psychology of this guy all wrong. Not living in a cave licking liken off the walls to survive, he was living in Pakistan's equivalent of Boca. Lots of retirees with walled houses living out the infertile years. I know in America, many a retirement hour is wiled away watching Fox News and yelling at the TV. I suspect retirement in Pakistan is somewhat different, but I may be surprised to find it not.
I won't ever know because if I do get to retire before dying (unlikely), Pakistan is not on my short list of places to go.
So we created a man of mythic proportions. After all he masterminded at least one dastardly terrorist event in the name of his god, why wouldn't we? But we assumed that he was unlike our own Generals and leaders in that he did not need the trappings of luxury and comfort. He was a somewhere in a cave with a shortwave radio spending all his waking hours dreaming up new ways to kill people he didn't like and fool people he did into doing it.
But he wasn't. He was living in Sun City Pakistan and paying HSA fees with blood money and working on his tan. And that makes him a coward. A dead coward, who sat in a Barcalounger since 2005 (early estimates of when he moved in to this neighborhood only an hour's drive from the capitol of the country), while young boys and girls blew themselves up for an impossible to believe version of heaven that just so happened to play on the very desires the Muslim faith denies them here on earth. Convenient.
I am not happy that man still feels the need to kill man. I think we would all be so much better off working together on how to find life on other planets, go there, and kill entire other species all the while having the audacity to call them aliens. You know, like the future I was told about as a kid. The one I spent so many hours dreaming about.
I never dreamed we would spend billions, (trillions?), of dollars and lose so many lives for the sake of one dead coward. But we did. In the end, who really won?
totally agree, bro. i had a split second of relief, followed by more than a little cynicism about whether it's really true or if it's just propaganda (the conspiracy theorist in me), followed finally by an unsettling discomfort about americans rejoicing in this man's death. i just don't see how it's any different than muslim's rejoicing in american blood. "vengeance is mine," says the Lord, not, "go ahead and kill the ones who scare you. fear makes it all ok."
ReplyDeleteum, no, it doesn't. and are we any safer today, with bin laden supposedly sinking to the bottom of the ocean than we were yesterday when he was sitting poolside listening to lady gaga? i think not. one more person dies and we sing anthems of national glory. i, for one, am at least uncomfortable with all of it, if not downright against it.
Oh my God, the hand-wringing! An evil person has been destroyed. If that's not reason to be glad, then your moral compass is f***ed.
ReplyDeleteSorry, I know I'm usually a bit more judicious and reasoned than that. But seriously - sometimes we need to turn up the contrast setting on our worldview. This is one of those times.
Well, folks, there you have it. Two distinct and diametrically opposed points of view on the same facts and as usual I have a foot in each camp.
ReplyDeleteI WANT to be happy. I at first was elated. Then I remember feeling cheated that I did not get a chance to dance in the streets over the blood of this man who I hated with all the hate my soul could provide.
Then I remembered that my code, Christianity, does not allow for it. And I felt evil, and I knew hatred and I knew it was wrong.
I believe humankind should be on a quest to be more like God. If you are not so inured to believe in God, fine... humankind should be on a quest to be more godlike.
Earthquakes, tornadoes, mine cave-ins, kidnappings, murders; all of these on the evening news and in all of these, people who rush into the fray to help. Many do this in the name of God. Many do this from sense of duty. Sometimes people do these righteous things to their own physical peril.
These are the moments that make humankind great. These should be our legacy.
Do I think it is wrong that we pursued and killed this man? Nope. Do I think It should be celebrated? As my good friend Dave would say... I'm plus minus on that.
I welcome all comments. I welcome all debate. All opinions are respected here.
I thought it was amazing news in the fight against terror that we removed this man from the face of the earth. My next thought, though, was how much worse will things get with his crazy followers who will stop at nothing to vindicate his death and what it will mean for us and our society.
ReplyDeleteAs for the people they showed chanting in the streets, all I could think was that they were a bunch of hangers on who don't understand the impact, worldwide, of what assholes they look like and how they take a good thing and make us look stupid. Add on that they all appeared to be about 12 years old and I say "are you even old enough to remember the horror of 9/11?" Sorry, but I really cannot stand posers and that's just how they seemed.
Overall, I agree with Dave -- this was a good thing. Now, let's see how it plays out.
I must say I agree with Kelly about the students congregating outside the White House gates last night. I doubt they can fully appreciate the gravity of what has happened, though that is probably just me being a grumpy "old" man.
ReplyDeleteAs for the completely legitimate concerns about Christian morality, which I perhaps dismissed too lightly, I will say this: I think we have an obligation as followers of Christ to work for the betterment of this world even as we put our faith in the world to come. As tragic as the story of the past ten years has been, it is clear that the world is a better place today without Bin Laden in it. I do not think that there was any reasonable hope of putting an end to his campaign of terror other than with a measure of violence. I am sorry that it came to that, but the die was cast so long ago that it does no good to fret over it now.
"When the righteous prosper, the city rejoices; when the wicked perish, there are shouts of joy." -Prov. 11:10
We should be glad for the end of an evil man, because it was necessary and just. But it is also right for this to be tempered with sober reflection, lest we give in to hatred for its own sake and become no better than our enemies.
"We may kill if necessary, but we must not hate and enjoy hating. We may punish if necessary, but we must not enjoy it... Even while we kill and punish we must try to feel about the enemy as we feel about ourselves — to wish that he were not bad, to hope that he may, in this world or another, be cured: in fact, to wish his good." -C.S. Lewis