The Death of Osama bin Laden

Well it happened. As of Sunday May 1st Osama bin Laden, the "mastermind" of 9/11 and face of Al Qaeda to the American public, is dead. Following this news was the expected gathering of American people celebrating and (in some cases) rioting in DC, at the site of 9/11 and around the country.

Also expected was the "other side" response of cynicism and disgust.

And I find myself right smack in the middle with my own opinion.

It's a familiar place. True, I do find die-hard patriotism creepy. The idea of supporting your leader no matter what they do speaks too 1984 for me. I was often infuriated by a political debate ended in the statement "you don't speak out against your president at war time". War time to me is the EXACT moment we should all have something to say negative or positive. Politics isn't religion (though the two have been disturbingly inching together over time) and I am not a heretic because I'm not in support of my leader in a time of crisis. I prefer to think of myself as having a brain.

However, while I find patriotism at times creepy, I also understand and in some moments feel that heart-swell of pride. Let's be honest, we're damn lucky to live in the country we do. It's not a utopia but the complaints we have seem childish in the face of issues inherent in the majority of other countries. And before you think I'm only speaking of middle eastern countries or third-world allow me to point out that Britain has (perhaps arguably) less tolerant ideas of racism than the US. I will still never enjoy the "Proud to Be an American" song and I don't own an American flag. But so far I don't have any plans to jump ship (we'll see after the next election).

Osama is dead. Half of the country is celebrating, the other half is lamenting how easily our country slips into a similar area as middle-eastern countries that celebrate deaths on our side. And while I agree with the latter, I also don't think it's surprising or even wrong the former reaction.

It's not because I feel the families need closure. Closure would be the end of terrorism and the death of Osama is not that. It's not because the death of a mass murderer is justified. Whether or not death for death is the right action is a difficult question one that I don't feel enlightened enough to answer.

It's because the country needed something to celebrate.

Maybe I'm the only who felt it, but there has been this increasing malaise in our public. Ten years ago one of the worst tragedies in our nation's history occurred. What followed was a knee-jerk joining together amidst mass confusion and fear. We were in mourning and clinging to the idea that we weren't strong, we HAD to be strong. We went into Afghanistan, though some of us didn't like it, and we tried to grip onto that feeling that we had to survive. We were beautiful then.

But it continued on much longer than anyone anticipated. We were in a war that wasn't a war. We began to be split. Those who were against, those who were for and those who lived everyday wondering if their loved ones would come back and only having each other to cling to because the rest of us don't understand. With enough time, the ten years overseas became a backdrop to everything. A sort of "oh yeah, that thing" for the American people. We cared and we didn't know what we cared about. We began to cling to the notion of patriotism, to supporting our troops, to protesting and, of course, to cynicism with the knowledge that none of us outside the political sphere will truly know what is going or what will happen.

Yellow ribbon magnets faded on cars, American flags frayed ever present in front of homes, special reports on the soldiers who are still leaving and sometimes coming back were smashed in between Obama news and updates on Lohan. What we were fighting for and why became less and less clear and we as a people sunk into a still proud but wary malaise.

And ten years later, a victory.

Yes, it's mostly a hollow victory. Al Qaeda still exists, our relationship with Pakistan is shaky at best and there is an increased threat of a homeland terrorist attack in retaliation.

But for now, we have a visceral success and it brings the country out of it's collective funk then I can handle a few too many riots and flag-waving celebrations for my taste.