Sometimes I sit and think about what America can sometimes get itself involved in. I think about the attacks on September 11, and how we were told to spend money and go about our normal routines to start the healing process.
I think about America and some of the things our government may be involved in abroad to entice our enemies to possibly attack this great nation on our own soil.
Those acts of terror were caused by no person, no company, and no government official, that gray day in September. Our nation and our lives were forever changed because of the actions of a few bad people and no individual should bear the weight of that responsibility.
Still, I sit and wonder about America’s arrogance.
Last night President Barack Obama announced to the American public that the mastermind behind the September 11th attacks, Osama Bin Laden, was killed in a compound just outside of Islamabad, which is the capital of Pakistan.
According to reports the former leader of the terrorist organization Al Qaeda was killed in a firefight with U.S troops. After almost 10 years of searching for the long bearded terroris,t America had finally brought Bin Laden to his rightful justice: Death.
While former President George Bush and current President Barack Obama continued to state that they wanted Osama dead or alive, the underscored end result was to kill the man who murdered nearly 3,000 Americans.
As I sat watching news scrolls of “Bin Laden Dead” breeze across the bottom of my 32-inch flat panel television, my mind started to wonder again.
While I understand the triumph and glory that so many will take delight in due to Bin Laden’s death, I have to wonder about the our glorification of another human’s death.
To put it simply, Osama Bin Laden was a bad man. Any individual who receives joy from the pain and suffering of others obviously needs some OJ Simpson type of jail therapy.
To see him release countless videos denouncing America and calling for the death of people around the world who support America’s practices is just despicable.
Like any American who witnessed each tower fall to its knees I wanted to see Osama brought to justice.
I understand that his killing represented more than just the death of a man and it had more to do with the ceremonial casualty of his belief system about America. His death was also an illustration of a sort of shackled physiological release as our nation couldn’t really move on until he was brought to some type of justice.
But unlike many Americans I didn’t want to see it this way.
We are a nation with a twisted and dark past. We routinely practiced the hanging of individuals because of their skin color and we still put people to death based on the severity of their crimes.
Out great nation also claims to be a nation under God. The book that we hold near and dear to our hearts, the Bible, states that we shouldn’t take revenge, that we should leave that up to the Lord.
So why are we out celebrating the death of another human being? Why is it so important for us to wave the American flag and to tap dance in celebration of this individual’s death?
I still wonder about America’s infatuation with death and killing. Osama’s life has come to an end, yes, but his cause lives on. His ultimate goal in life was martyrdom and in death he will receive that so-called honor.
Excuse my forwardness and perplexity but I see no need for festivity.
Pain is something that will last for a season and we can sometimes recall that pain with the memories in our brain’s museum. I can never begin to fathom the depth of the pain felt by those who lost loved ones and friends on September 11. I will not quantify my feelings on Bin Laden and our response on the backs of those who are still hurting because of his evilness.
But allow me to say this without offense.
The anger that we feel when we hear about the death of an American soldier overseas or when we see an American flag being torched, is the same anger that some individuals in the Middle East are feeling because of our response to Bin Laden’s death.
We are not better as a nation because of his demise and our safety did not improve due to his killing. Motivation can sometimes come from watching others bask in the glory of something you want or something you despise. I imagine our enemies’ motivation is that much stronger.
Our festive mood due to his death will only add gas to an already glowing and hot fire.
I just hope that we, Americans, will remember that death and celebration are usually two things that we do not usually give context to.
So tonight, I’ll just sit and think some more.
