I arrived home late yesterday afternoon from a long-weekend road trip to the Nashville area exhausted. I did my level best to stay awake, enjoying the serenity of my home and catching up on the TV I missed while away, but lost the battle with my eyelids and fell asleep on the couch at about 10 pm. I woke at 3 am to find that US Navy Seals, at the direction of our President, had located and eliminated Osama Bin Laden. While I understood my countrymen's jubilation, I was uncomfortable with some of the very ugly things that were being said and done. My emotions were conflicting: pride, relief, joy, concern, sadness, disgust, shame.
This morning I watched news coverage, read blogs discussing the event, listened to Secretary of State Clinton's address . . . I spent six hours last night and this morning trying to reconcile my feelings and, in the end, posted this to Facebook:
The world breathes a sigh of relief that the foremost terrorist leader has been eliminated, and rightly so, but let's not lose sight of temperance and grace. This is far from over and the actions we take and the words we speak today will color what happens in the future.Those who lost loved ones in the 9/11 attacks and all of the sundry other world-wide attacks masterminded by Bin Laden have closure, and that is a great thing. The leadership of this country set a goal and eventually accomplished it. We should celebrate that. But terror sects are designed to continue to thrive long after the head of the snake has been cut off. The world is watching us to see how we react. Let's do so with reason and compassion.
29 comments:
Exactly. Behaving as if this were Game 7 of the World Series diminishes us all.
You're fighting a losing battle trying to be reasonable like that. Never forget that the real victims here are the people who took to Facebook last night to bitch that Obama was interrupting Celebrity Apprentice. (And yes, I swiftly unfriended that person).
In all seriousness, well said, Gwen. It's an interesting situation to witness, that's for sure.
i haven't written on my blog in almost a year and yet i did today. took me a fuck ton of words to say what you did in a facebook status.
fuck, you are good!
Well said. I have so many mixed emotions about this that I've decided to give myself 24 hours before blogging about it, but I think you've kind of summed up how I'm feeling nicely.
I 100% agree. I'm disgusted that people I know are celebrating/rioting in the streets. How does that make us better than the followers of Osama that were celebrating American deaths?
@Sara: So true! That was an observation that I made last night as well. And the entire world really IS watching us to see how we react. Let's behave ourselves, shall we?
Amen, girl.
I'm so appalled at how gross some of my "friends" have been about this, mostly on FB, but elsewhere as well. Posting pictures of a dead body, no matter who it is, on your FB page is pretty much the quickest way I can think of to have me unfriend you.
Ugh.
I so agree w/you.,Besides how do we know he was the worst of all evils? I heard on the news how we are now on high alert? Now, is that good? or will that raise fear in us?
I'm proud of our military and our President.
Well put, and I echo your sentiments. I too am struggling with whether to feel joy, relief or remorse. I'm not really and eye for an eye kind of person, but it seems there are some circumstances where its the best option.
Good job Gwen. I was also feeling those mixed emotions last night, and a bit uncomfortable as people were chanting USA outside the white house.
To use a sports adage about end zone dances, "act like you've been there before".
I wasn't sure what to say. Then I saw my word ver, "ovation".
I think it means I just released an egg.
Nicely written Gwen,but this is only the beginning I think.
Well said. The real story here though isn't bin Laden. It's the colossal failure of his two new security guards, bin Drinkin and bin Sleepin.
It's OK to be happy about this.
I agree 100%. The celebrations in the streets just didn't seem right.
These were my feelings exactly. Like Sara said, the celebration reminded me too much of the celebrations in the Arab world after 9/11. Now, it's not QUITE the same, as those victims were innocent and bin Laden is not. But it's close enough to make me feel unsettled.
Not to mention...all this celebration for something we've failed to accomplish for TEN YEARS? It's like celebrating because you finally filed your taxes in October.
I awarded you an award, here: http://moody-by-name.blogspot.com/2011/05/awarded-award.html
What you said in the last line needs to be heeded.
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thank you for speaking up against the blanket hatred that has gotten us to this place. I have seen, read (deleted) many things and I think my favorite quote thus far has been this:
"We should spend less time celebrating his death and more time mourning his life."
sars
ood point!
I'm so grateful to found your blog. It's a substantial read.
Glad i came to this blog going through the "Next Blog" button.Thank you for sharing this information with us.Keep up the good work!
Was browsing for some cancer blog and I chanced upon your site. I am glad that I was able to visit and stay in your place. Thank you for sharing you thoughts. I love how you put feelings into your entry, no siding one side or the other. In deed it is a difficult balance between reason and compassion but very possible. Thanks again.
I am an advocate for justice and righteous anger but lets have some class and not display our anger by slamming others.
I have to say I completely agree with your sentiments. I understand the closure for friends and family of victims, and the world is certainly better off without Bin Laden, but I still found it hard to be so excited about the death of one man.
-Sara
Nicely written article. You're so right, yes maybe we got someone who supposedly caused a LOT of grief here, but who really knows if it was him...and even with him gone you're right, it's only the head of the snake...
NIe post !
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