Political Gripes: On the Death of Bin Laden

Understandably, the topic on most everyone’s mind is the death of Osama Bin Laden. Bin Laden is the purported leader of Al Qaeda and the mastermind behind the 9/11 attacks on the Twin Towers in New York, and certain parts of Pennsylvania and Washington D.C. Thousands were killed in New York especially and today, almost ten years later, the impact of the attacks is still felt. I still remember exactly where I was and what I was doing in the hours surrounding that terrible morning and I do not expect that I will forget the anxiety that I felt when I was trying to contact my family and could not get through right away. But what I felt does not begin to compare to the pain and agony that many felt (and still feel) when they received the news that their loved ones would never come home again. Osama Bin Laden made his mark but if he was trying to create a hole and to rip us apart by grief he failed because he could not have counted on the way that the city banded together and how the tragedy turned ordinary people into heroes for their willingness to do what needed to be done and help their fellow men.

No doubt, being able to share news of Bin Laden’s death was a great moment for President Obama who had quite a busy weekend (check out his speech from the White House Correspondent's Dinner on April 30th- hilarious!). While sharing news of Bin Laden's death, President Obama was able to provide some relief on a war that he inherited and beat back some of his critics and I would not deign to try to detract from that. Though somber, the President’s speech sparked hope that an end to war was in sight and that the removal of Bin Laden was a great step towards that goal. Making strides on ending the war on terror is certainly something to celebrate but while I have no sympathy for Bin Laden, neither will I express any jubilation at his death. I wholeheartedly believe that he deserved to be punished and to suffer for what he did but I cannot condone anyone taking another person’s life, even if he is a mass murderer. Maybe I will feel differently once the news really sinks in.