So funny anecdote and then my reaction to Osama bin Laden's death.
Last night around 11:15pm I had just turned off the lights when I got a frantic knock on my door. I open it to see my roommate Julia looking frantic and she says, "Hayley, my mom just texted me, Obama was assassinated. Help me turn on the tv I want to watch the news!" (for back story, Julia doesn't watch tv very often and gets confused by all the remotes). I am freaking out now as well, because in my mind our president was just assassinated. JFK anyone?? So we run out to the living room and turn on the tv and to our relief it was Osama not Obama who was assassinated. Craziness. Glad that Julia's mom got it confused.
So that's the funny story.
Now for my thoughts on Osama. Obviously, Sept 11, 2001 was not an awesome day in my book. I can still remember with perfect clarity everything that happened that day. I remember going to school and my friend Tyler coming back from her open campus saying there was some kind of plane crash on the radio. Then I went to my 5th period class and my drama teacher was freaking out because her husband was in NYC that day and she finally told us (even though the teachers were expressly told not to tell the student body because it would create a mass panic) that the trade center had been hit by terrorists and both of the twin towers had fallen. Now imagine my panic when I know that my father works in the building across a narrow little street from the towers and also my regret and not saying anything more than "bye!" as I ran out the door with my breakfast in hand on my way to seminary that morning. My friend Cap went to his car and got his boombox out and turned on the news and we gathered in the senior section of the cafeteria to listen to the reports. Our office has glass windows that look into the hallways and post it notes starting going up with people's names on them. "Smith - ok" or "Black - call home", etc. People were in the corners of the hallways crying and praying. My friend Lindsay and I paced the halls going in circles waiting to see if "Behrmann" would pop up on the window. Finally I got a "Behrmann-everything's ok" note and I couldn't handle it, I called home and then went home to see my dad. There were a couple people in my school who had relatives die that day and the majority of our student body had relatives who worked in the financial district and were forever changed by that day.
So, how exactly am I supposed to feel now that the "mastermind" behind those attacks is caught and dead? To be honest I feel a little relieved and a little justified. Not that his death really changes the effects of that day, but I'm glad he's gone.
My friend posted the following link from the Huffington Post - which is usually pretty snarky when it comes to news, but I actually really appreciated the article. You can read the whole article here. But this is the paragraph that I really liked and I would love to hear your thoughts on it:
But I have to be careful in my celebrations of bin Laden's death. I was a chaplain at Columbia University during September 11, 2001. Two days after the attacks, some of my students put on an art exhibit in response called Peace Kitchen. In one piece a student had put a film of bin Laden's face over a mirror so we saw our own face staring back at us through his. The point was not that there was equivalency between Bin Laden and us, but to acknowledge that evil is not something that only exists outside of us that we can point to and kill once and for all. Evil doesn't work like that. All humans have the potential for grace, but we also all have the potential to sin and do evil. It is a tempting yet dangerous practice to look around the world for evil people and target them. That is just what Osama Bin Laden thought he was doing. We must be vigilant that we do not become what we despise. We must be careful in the way we use religion and the name of God to further our own causes or to ever manipulate people into hate or hate.
So, let us mute our celebrations. Let any satisfaction be grim and grounded in the foundation of justice for all who have suffered at bin Laden's bloody hands. And also justice for crimes against God -- for using God as an instrument of terror and and promoting distrust between peoples of different religions and nations. Let us put bin Laden's body in the ground, and in doing so bury his disastrous and blasphemous religious legacy.
Ultimately, judgment is not ours to make. But I believe in a just God and I believe that Osama Bin Laden, for all the talk of rewards in heaven, will not be enjoying his meeting with the God of Creation.
Last night around 11:15pm I had just turned off the lights when I got a frantic knock on my door. I open it to see my roommate Julia looking frantic and she says, "Hayley, my mom just texted me, Obama was assassinated. Help me turn on the tv I want to watch the news!" (for back story, Julia doesn't watch tv very often and gets confused by all the remotes). I am freaking out now as well, because in my mind our president was just assassinated. JFK anyone?? So we run out to the living room and turn on the tv and to our relief it was Osama not Obama who was assassinated. Craziness. Glad that Julia's mom got it confused.
So that's the funny story.
Now for my thoughts on Osama. Obviously, Sept 11, 2001 was not an awesome day in my book. I can still remember with perfect clarity everything that happened that day. I remember going to school and my friend Tyler coming back from her open campus saying there was some kind of plane crash on the radio. Then I went to my 5th period class and my drama teacher was freaking out because her husband was in NYC that day and she finally told us (even though the teachers were expressly told not to tell the student body because it would create a mass panic) that the trade center had been hit by terrorists and both of the twin towers had fallen. Now imagine my panic when I know that my father works in the building across a narrow little street from the towers and also my regret and not saying anything more than "bye!" as I ran out the door with my breakfast in hand on my way to seminary that morning. My friend Cap went to his car and got his boombox out and turned on the news and we gathered in the senior section of the cafeteria to listen to the reports. Our office has glass windows that look into the hallways and post it notes starting going up with people's names on them. "Smith - ok" or "Black - call home", etc. People were in the corners of the hallways crying and praying. My friend Lindsay and I paced the halls going in circles waiting to see if "Behrmann" would pop up on the window. Finally I got a "Behrmann-everything's ok" note and I couldn't handle it, I called home and then went home to see my dad. There were a couple people in my school who had relatives die that day and the majority of our student body had relatives who worked in the financial district and were forever changed by that day.
So, how exactly am I supposed to feel now that the "mastermind" behind those attacks is caught and dead? To be honest I feel a little relieved and a little justified. Not that his death really changes the effects of that day, but I'm glad he's gone.
My friend posted the following link from the Huffington Post - which is usually pretty snarky when it comes to news, but I actually really appreciated the article. You can read the whole article here. But this is the paragraph that I really liked and I would love to hear your thoughts on it:
But I have to be careful in my celebrations of bin Laden's death. I was a chaplain at Columbia University during September 11, 2001. Two days after the attacks, some of my students put on an art exhibit in response called Peace Kitchen. In one piece a student had put a film of bin Laden's face over a mirror so we saw our own face staring back at us through his. The point was not that there was equivalency between Bin Laden and us, but to acknowledge that evil is not something that only exists outside of us that we can point to and kill once and for all. Evil doesn't work like that. All humans have the potential for grace, but we also all have the potential to sin and do evil. It is a tempting yet dangerous practice to look around the world for evil people and target them. That is just what Osama Bin Laden thought he was doing. We must be vigilant that we do not become what we despise. We must be careful in the way we use religion and the name of God to further our own causes or to ever manipulate people into hate or hate.
So, let us mute our celebrations. Let any satisfaction be grim and grounded in the foundation of justice for all who have suffered at bin Laden's bloody hands. And also justice for crimes against God -- for using God as an instrument of terror and and promoting distrust between peoples of different religions and nations. Let us put bin Laden's body in the ground, and in doing so bury his disastrous and blasphemous religious legacy.
Ultimately, judgment is not ours to make. But I believe in a just God and I believe that Osama Bin Laden, for all the talk of rewards in heaven, will not be enjoying his meeting with the God of Creation.
Wow. I hadn't read that article but I loved it. Thanks for sharing, Hails
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