[caption id="attachment_4069" align="alignleft" width="210" caption="Bin Laden: Celebrate death of evil, yet mourn the pain that kills"]
[/caption]In New York and Washington D.C. crowds gathered at the sites where the attacks of 9/11 happened to share the joy of justice with one another.
The happiness and relief that people are feeling is not wrong or “bad.” Evil has been vanquished and that is cause for celebration, but when the subject of celebration turns from the deeds to the man it can pose a problem. The desire for revenge is a very basic instinct for the human race and the satisfaction when a person gets their revenge is just as ingrained. When we allow those basic feelings to be appealed to without the filter of decency and morality it can cause a great deal of danger.
Our need for complete and verifiable closure, and the secret part of us that enjoys a bit of exhibitionism, has caused grief for many Facebook users today. A link being disseminated to friends and posted on their walls contains malware that when clicked will let an outside entity gain access to your Facebook page and friends list. It will then post the link on all of your friend’s walls. If you are a victim of the malware you should run a virus scan on your computer as well as change your Facebook password.
A computer virus is a small concern compared to the larger concern if we allow our celebration to become antagonizing, we may incite retaliation for what some extremist Muslims see as not only disrespect but a deeply religious slight. After the confirmation of Bin Laden’s death the United States and other countries went on alert for retaliatory strikes against us. These are just the facts that for every action there is a reaction, and the reaction will happen even though it is not deserved.
Americans are a good people, and we deserve this time of celebration and triumph. And also as good people we should recognize when something is appropriate and when it is taken too far. Osama does not deserve our tears or our pity. He knew what he did, and he paid the price. His life, his feelings, and his legacy have already been tarnished and there is nothing Americans can do to make that any worse. Our respect though should go to his family, many of who are not bad people but will still feel loss. Our respect should be shown to those who were lost during the war that was caused by this man, not only the military but most especially the civilians.
We cannot hold back our feelings, but we can acknowledge them and we can choose to act upon them in a way more conducive to a positive result. In the famous words of Clarence Darrow, 'I've never wished a man dead, but I have read some obituaries with great pleasure...'
