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Monday, May 2, 2011

Dancing On Graves

Is it right to do a dance over a death?
Can someone's evil allow us to celebrate a death? I do not think so. A dark shadow no longer looms. Osama Bin Ladin did not die from his kidney issues (I feel terrible that, informed he had them, my initial snap reaction was: "I hope the pain is unbearable"- this was absolutely disgusting and wrong of me, and I scared myself in saying so. Because one does not wish pain on another human, two wrongs do not make a right.) but by a bullet.

10 years ago, from a dorm room 2 hours from NYC, I stood, open mouthed, glued to CNN. Classes were canceled, there were horrific images...the towers were down, bodies being dragged from wreckage, and fears ran rampant. What did I see, that horrified me most? Pure blood lust and hatred in the eyes of news anchors. I saw that, in the eyes of Wolf Blitzer tonight- last night- on CNN. Yes, I was horrified most at the hatred. The very hatred that enabled horrific attacks of terror. Those who bombed us, flew planes into buildings, who danced in the streets on foreign soils, were not Muslims. They went against the very tenents of their faith, which is based upon Judeo-Christian principles in its' most bare-bones form. (Yes, I have read sites such as The Religion of Peace: Is the Quran Hate Propoganda? (I choose to link that, as I believe readers can read, research and choose for themselves, and do not mind if I am disagreed with.) I will NOT say: "We dance over a grave, as "muslims"- no, terrorists, by any other name- evil-doers, who did not act as their avowed faith demanded- did over our graves." I WILL say: Does anyone else see the shocking, frightening familiarity?

A friend worked in Iraqi prisons, talking one day, he told me what it was like to be a 19 year old boy-soldier, meeting Sadam Hussein's body guard. There was fear for him, and he is quite changed from the little toy soldier I met in early 2001. He was changed, by war, by the military, by acts of terror. He is finally beginning to heal. And he knows...he may have to leave home again, and be reactivated by the Reserves. You see, Osama Bin Ladin is dead. His murderous ideals are not. "The evil that men do lives on after them."
I say it, and I stick to it:
"People are gathering to celebrate the death of Osama Bin Laden"... this sentence actually disturbs me. He was evil, but celebrating death? Poor wording, CNN. Just as there was dancing in streets over 9/11, must we dance over the corpse of someone? Their evilness does not mean that we can dance a soft-shoe over a grave. May the God above bless us all. May we see a relative peace, we will not truly do so in this time. May the death of Bin Ladin be used for good, not evil. We are not to dance on our enemies' graves. To celebrate, makes us no better than those who stole lives in the blink of an eyelash. 

6 comments:

  1. I think I love you a little bit right now...

    I have nothing to add, thus I shall simply bow. Well said.

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  2. I adore you Stone :) I am grateful. I am responding in pure shock right now!

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  3. Where's like button? I remember American disgust at seeing celebrating in the streets of middle eastern cities on 9/11. The scene on 1600 Penn Ave tonight is eerily reminiscent to me.

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  4. Wolf Blitzer's eyes and his glee got me first... which initiated an honest "Holy Hell, did you SEE that?" This... is not right, not good. We cannot allow ourselves to act like this. This flowed easily... even though, already, I am hearing "Can you really call Bin Ladin human?" Reprisals and outrage will follow; two wrongs do not make a right.

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  5. I adore you Stone :) I am grateful. I am responding in pure shock right now!

    ReplyDelete
  6. I think I love you a little bit right now...

    I have nothing to add, thus I shall simply bow. Well said.

    ReplyDelete