On May 2, 2011, I woke up from a mid-day nap to find my facebook had exploded with news of the death of Osama Bin Laden -- arguably the most feared man among the American people -- at the hands of US forces.
My reaction was not especially emotional. I saw the situation as believing it was something that needed to be done. I did not share in the elation or sense of security some felt but I respected those sentiments. I acknowledged the happiness people felt while we discussed how this was not over.
And then I braced myself for the commentary provided by others.
I was not let down.
Among the many who rejoiced and the many who hinted at feeling there was little to celebrate were some other out-spoken individuals who had considerably more to say.
The more reasonable called for prayers and reminded those of faith that they have been called to reach out with forgiveness. Some urged others to abandon feelings of anger and hatred in their hearts as both science and spirituality support that anger can be a cancer to a person's mental health.
The well-intentioned but not so eloquent expressed what they truly felt with little consideration, intentional or not, to what their words meant to others.
And there were those who blatantly mocked the relief others felt, used hateful speech toward their fellow man and simply painted themselves as even more ignorant than they had in the past.
It was these reactions the further shaped how I felt about the capture and assassination of Bin Laden.
I am not a person of faith in a greater power. I am a person of faith in human nature and, as such, I do not believe in the necessity to transcend that which makes us human beings. While stating before that hatred and anger can be a cancer, I also believe it is a useful and necessary human emotion provided it does not consume a person. More, I believe it is only up to the individual to abandon hatred when and if that person becomes ready.
As such, the anger and hatred one feels for Bin Laden is, essentially, no one else's business. Whether it's real or misguided, whether it comes from a good place or a bad one, it is not up to another person to determine what it means or how it should be treated. We can never know that much about another person to make that call. In the end, such statements become a judgment. It serves no purpose as the angry person is not likely to pay much mind to the judgment of others, anyway. Bin Laden's family will never see these sentiments of compassion. They will not reach his mourners and if they did, I somehow doubt that radical extremists will care about the sympathy of capitalist American infidels. Ultimately, it achieves the opposite of what the speaker actually intends: In calling for less judgment on a person largely viewed as a monster, it casts judgment on those angry, innocent civilians who do not create public policy and did not do anything to the terrorists who took the lives of their loved ones.
A call to forgive and to open our hearts is one thing and I respect that as a sentiment echoed in a Martin Luther King, Jr. misquote that has gone viral. But some have crossed the line into an unintentional judgment on those who cannot forgive, some of whom just cannot forgive right now.
Then there is the issue of fear, of whether Bin Laden's death makes us more or less safe than before. It reminds me of my childhood, when I mistook the airplanes flying over my house for giants on the roof. My father told me he'd call the airport and ask them to send planes to check on the house so that when I heard them, I knew someone was making sure there were no giants there.
It doesn't make sense and it's not supposed to. It was meant to appease a little girl and rid her of her fear. Fear doesn't necessarily change as we grow and our reaction to it doesn't always mature. Another thing that does not change about fear is that it can consume a person even more than hatred. Thus, when given the chance, whether by our own hands or the actions of others, we may choose to abandon that fear in an attempt to feel safer, however misguided, just so we can move on with our lives. Often, that is simply what justice is about.
So is that a bad thing? Is it really that bad for people to feel more safe that Bin Laden is dead? These are not the people effecting or creating public policy. They have no say-so as to how any war on terrorism is fought and have nothing to do with public safety. They are not the people who need to be vigilant about security on a national or global scale. They are the people who need to have a better state of mind so that they can live their lives as normally as possible.
Truly, anyone who chooses to mock or extinguish that false sense of security is a hateful, malicious person who serves little purpose to himself and those around him.
I also detest the ignorance of futility expressed that catching one person means nothing. If someone hurt my child, I would not react by saying, "So what? There are more people who can hurt my kids so why bother trying to catch the person we know already hurt him?"
Finally, I cannot muster much sympathy for the death of Bin Laden. I sat in tears ten year ago, watching desperate people jump to their deaths, seeing how the immense loss of life hurt those closest to the tragedies, knowing that our world and lives would be forever changed as we became a generation not of world wars, cold wars or conflicts in other lands, but a generation known for its war on terrorism and the first time in many of our lives that such a massive destruction of life was ordered in our own country. I am not interested in forgiving the man who took credit for that loss even as I respect those who have forgiven him. I care more that his death has given many more people a sense of relief. I care more that those who lost anything or anyone on September 11 have been given a sense of justice. In a world where god comes in many forms and means something different to many people, the only justice I believe in, that has any effect on our lives, is that which man creates.
Saying that you cannot rejoice in another person's death is fine. It hurts no one. Saying that you do not like the joy others express is a judgment that does hurt people. Saying that we should be more aware of the danger his death means is okay. Telling people they are stupid for feeling relief is not.
I urge people to consider, first, those who were lost when the terrorists attacked and those who experienced that loss, first-hand, miles away from the majority of us who only saw it from afar. Consider what it would mean if that happened a lot closer to home. Consider how angry and hateful you would be to the person who hurt your family and took them away from you and how willing you would be to forgive that person. Consider how you'd feel if the person who hurt you were caught. No one should take those feelings away from you and you'd be insulted if they tried. Offer thoughts of peace and support and allow them their anger, grief and relief and the ability to come to terms with this on their own.
We said we will never forget and I know I never will. I hope for peace and strength in those who felt this the most and am unashamed in the degree of pleasure I have taken that Osama is gone in the literal definition of the word as I am, in fact, pleased that justice, as many of us define it, has been served.
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