Diane woke me this morning with the news of Osama Bin Ladin’s death. I lay there for a few minutes trying to take that in.. how did I feel ? Good ? Bad.. Relieved ? Fearfull ? .. I guess a little of all of those things..
It was not until I went downstairs and started reading about other peoples reactions that my reaction began to change.. When I saw that people were celebrating Bin Ladin’s death I was deeply saddened.. not because I had compassion for him. but because no-one should celebrate another’s death. No matter how evil. Justice is important.. and Bin Ladin certainly deserved justice. He destroyed many peoples lives in support of his own ideology. I know that he was a dangerous man who used violence to promote his cause..The world is no doubt better off with out him.., .. But justice is one thing..and vengeance is another. Vengeance s a dangerous and poisonous emotion…Believe me I understand the anger behind a senseless death.. but this is not a time for celebrating.. it’s a time for closure.. for thinking.. and for coming together to work for peace and justice….
I know many reading this will not agree with me.. and I don’t mean to condemn anyone for how they feel.. I just need to let folks know how I feel.
nite all.. lets work for peace, nite sam
-me
Well said, my friend.
I have a similar point of View,
to revel and take joy in the death of another seems Barbarous and heathenistic…
(at some point Mankind needs to elevate itself, or it’s doomed; no)?
plus I firmly believe “thou shalt not kill” and in forgiveness,
I won’t compromise my beliefs for such a Wretched creature,
(apparently I’m still working on the forgiveness part)…
glad to see I’m not only one conflicted about this…
I have a similar point of View,
to revel and take joy in the death of another seems Barbarous and heathenistic…
(at some point Mankind needs to elevate itself, or it’s doomed; no)?
plus I firmly believe “thou shalt not kill” and in forgiveness,
I won’t compromise my beliefs for such a Wretched creature,
(apparently I’m still working on the forgiveness part)…
glad to see I’m not only one conflicted about this…
nite Sam
I concur. We shall never cheer for death !
Totally agree with you John. What’s there to gain by one man’s death? There are villains everywhere and killing them can’t be the solution. I thought we agreed upon that a long time ago. Anyway, let’s hope this incites reflection like it did to us and that more people come to the conclusion that we should direct our efforts toward getting along better.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts with us, Carla
I am grateful to know you and I am grateful for this post. Especially with all the one-sided, worldwide media coverage and videos of excessively partying Americans, which does not do justice neither to a people that I have learned to love nor to the victims who we all should pray for – in our own respective ways.
funny John… I felt the same exact way when I heard the news. I guess we old hippies are cut from the same cloth.
John,
I was sitting by Eric’s bedside watching him sleep and praying for the best recovery possible and being very grateful that he was alive.
I jumped on to check my e-mail and saw the story on the Yahoo front page that Qaddafi’s son had been killed. I know you will understand this but my heart sank and I felt intense pain as a father, so little makes sense to me!
Murder has been celebrated by one party or another throughout the long ugly chain of events and this saddens me, as well. It’s clear that truth has suffered, too, disturbing as it continues to remain obscured. Occasionally brief and tantalizing glimpses may appear, incomplete and mysterious, such as those found in independent journalist Christopher Ketcham’s January, 2007 CounterPunch article, but few pay any attention or take them seriously.