Sometimes it is good to live in a place where the time zone is four hours earlier than the East Coast. That meant I was watching President Obama tell us about the killing of Osama Bin Laden at 7ish or so, instead of midnight. It gave me time to think.
Which time I didn't actually need. How did I feel? Mixed feelings, to put it mildly. Slightly nauseated. Slightly relieved but also disgusted.
I always felt that the reason Osama bin Laden hadn't been killed by our armed forces was because there was a conspiracy or agreement that we would look like we were going after him, but ultimately we wouldn't actually get him. It seemed crazy that one guy could evade an entire government for so long.
On the other hand, the CIA has never been able to get Castro, either. And I'm sure they have tried.
So maybe O bin L really was wiley. Maybe he really was that hard to kill.
Be that as it may, it disturbs me to see people PARTYING over the death of someone. Death is not a partying item. Death is death. Dark, final, and a doorstep to the next world. He will get what is coming to him, be sure of that. I just don't feel like going out in the street and waving a flag.
Don't get me wrong, O bin L was a very bad man, who killed thousands upon thousands, not just in the Twin Towers and the Pentagon but all over the place, Muslims as well as others. And I'm not just talking about his suicide squads, he targeted non-wacko Muslims, too. Not just Americans.
It makes me sick, though, to see people cheering in the streets. O bin L affected my life, yes, by making it horribly inconvenient to take an airplane anywhere. Now I have to have a passport just to drive from Alaska to the Lower 48. It now takes six months to get a passport.
If anyone thinks that this situation is going to change with the death of the head madman, you are mistaken. Now we will walk around fearing retribution from his brother wackos.
It had to be done. Agreed. But you won't see me out in the streets because I just don't feel that way. Instead, last night I said prayers for both the souls of those killed by Osama bin Laden, and for O bin L himself, that he moves on to the next stage of whatever his (insane) journey is. He is out of our world now.
And I will not be seeing the movie that is sure to be made. The title "Hard to Kill" has been taken. But I'm sure they'll come up with something.
