As I sit her on my bed in Ambato, Ecuador I don’t really know how to react to the death of Osama Bin Laden. It is this man that was responsible for the death of approximately 3,000 American citizens on September 11, 2001. It has taken almost 10 years (9 years, 7 months, 20 days) to find him and hunt him down. Over the last 10 years there has been way too much bloodshed of innocent civilians all over the world. It is easy for us as Americans (myself included) to brush aside and ignore all the deaths that Americans have caused too. We have been in several wars, primarily Iraq with little purpose and unsuccessful results. Why do we have to kill someone to teach the rest of the world that killing is not okay? This seems so backwards and wrong.
It doesn’t seem right to celebrate the death of anyone. I am feeling a lot of mixed emotions towards this turn of events. It is a shame that one life has to be taken to get “revenge” for taking another life. Call me what you want: a liberal, pacifist, or “un-American”. I know I wasn’t directly affected by September 11, 2001 except for worrying about my uncles who lived and experienced the entire thing from their apartment. I don’t mean to sound insensitive and I do understand that for those that had loved ones killed by the Al Queda on this horrific date in American history are feeling some relief for their loss. But there has to be a way to end terrorism without violence and killing.
I remember September 11, 2001 quite vividly. Living on the West coast I was three hours behind and my mom shook me awake from sleeping to tell me, “there has been an attack on the United States in New York City”. Confused I woke up and stumbled into the living room to watch the two planes crash into the World Trade Towers and crash to the floor. I couldn’t believe it. Was this really happening? I remember thinking to myself, “Someday people will ask me where I was, what I remember, and what 9/11 was like” well, I suppose that time has come. I went to school and we didn’t have school the rest of the day. Instead we sat in our classes and watched the news listening and watching the live coverage of New York City, Pennsylvania, and the Pentagon. What a horrible day in history.
I found out about Osama Bin Laden’s death through friends on facebook and skype. I watched the live streaming of President Obama’s speech las night and also saw the chilling footage of the World Trade Center attacks again and again. I ran and told my Ecuadorian mom that he has been killed and we watched the news together. I oddly felt the need to tell my family here and contact my family back home. I am feeling strangely patriotic, but what a shame it is that one life has to end to teach the world something. Will there ever be a day where we won’t have to turn to violence? Where we won’t have to kill to get revenge? Where people will be open-minded enough to realize the harm that killing and violence has on this world? A large portion of my friends statuses on facebook have been commenting on the death of Bin Laden. One of my friend’s statuses was disturbing. She claimed that if you don’t think Osama’s death was worth it, you are disrespecting the families, dead, and soldiers who have been affected. She also claimed that if you are in this mindset, that you don’t belong in America, are basically part of Al Queda, and a terrorist. It makes me sad that someone can make those sort of claims about people who just want to live in a peaceful world. I am not saying that Osama’s death was a mistake, but there are other ways to deal with this sort of thing.
Lets challenge ourselves to end violence with love. I am not celebrating, simply reflecting on the last 10 years and what events and wars have taken the lives of so many. Not only American, but innocent civilians from different countries. I strongly believe that two wrongs don’t make a right. Lets move on from Osama’s death with a newfound appreciation for peace, love and justice. All we can do is reflect, respect, and honor all the lives that have been lost.
I agree with your blog. I think violence isn't the answer. And I'm not sure why they had to kill Osama Bin Laden. It seems to me that they would want to keep him alive, since he would most likely have a lot of information that our country could use... but also, I feel REALLY uncomfortable with the statement that Osama Bin Laden was responsible for the 9-11 attacks. I personally don't think he was the one behind them..I think there's a lot of evidence to support both sides, however, I am not confident that Al Quida did it and I really don't like how they say this justifies the deaths of those who were lost in September. I do believe that it does somewhat justify the lives lost during the wars, since we were fighting terrorism, and Osama was the face of it.
ReplyDeleteAnyways, that's just what I think.;