Osama Bin Laden Is Dead

I debated actually posting on this subject last night and decided to sleep on it. This morning I did the normal routine. Got up, handled the dental hygiene, and got on Facebook to see what everyone is talking about as I always do. I expected everyone to be discussing Osama to an extent, but it appeared that all those discussions ended at about 3 am last night (showing that us as a society has quite an ADD problem, but that is besides the point of this post). However, in the time that it was the topic of the moment for U.S citizens, some interesting questions were raised that I feel need to be explored.

Does his death actually mean anything? Are we celebrating revenge? Is it just bringing us together? And what does that mean for us as a society?

Does his death actually mean a damn thing in the "War on Terror"? No it does not. The "War on Terror" is a war against an ideology. Osama is nothing but a personification of that ideology. Someone will take his place. Al-Qaeda is a criminal organization, Osama had a right hand man, and his right hand man has a right hand man. It does not end, and it never will. So as far as that goes, we really do not have anything to celebrate, but we are.

Are we celebrating revenge? To an extent, I believe so. If you look at the core of the situation, everyone is simply celebrating the death of a human being. Now expand it a bit, bring in some roles, and we are victims of a terrorist celebrating said terrorist's death. In this capacity, I do understand the celebratory nature of the occasion by those families that were directly effected by any deaths that may have been caused by his attacks. But that is not an argument for justification that anyone else should attempt to invoke.

There are a ton of people that say "Its bringing us together!" and this statement would be supported by the flood of Facebook pages dedicated to the liking of "Osama is dead!" and "The guy who killed Osama" I personally found the sudden flood of fair weather patriots to be rather nauseating especially since all of those pages were probably started by people who just want to get a lot of likes on a page they started and care much less about any meaning, symbolic or otherwise, that his death may carry. But I desperately hope for all of us that we do not need death to bring us together as a Nation. In these times when not even our own government can get anything done, where we entered the 11th hour of a complete government shut down, and I did not see even a quarter of the togetherness as citizens that I saw in Osama's death. I simply cannot accept, because it truly would bring me great sadness, that only in death can this great country be brought together, even for a night on Facebook.

What does it mean to me? When I got the news, my honest to goodness first thoughts were "Maybe this means my brother can come home now." Him being a soldier in Afghanistan, I know this is a false hope, but it was my reaction to the news, and I thought I would share it.

I want to leave you with something my best friend said that I feels sums up my feelings, and I hope it touches you like it did me. Regardless of religious affiliation, it carries all the meaning in the world.

"Stop rejoicing over another human's death. He's only a symbol. Pray for peace."

As always I fully encourage any criticism, advice, suggestions, or general discussion in the comment area.
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