Not sad but not excited by the death of a terrorist

When something is thrown upwards, there is a point at which the object’s upward momentum and the force of gravity are equal. For some time period — even if it is incredibly small — when the object hangs suspended. That is the emotional space I have occupied since learning about Osama bin Laden’s death. Any relief/closure/positive emotion has been tempered by my normal instinct that death is bad and deaths, even of bad people, are not meant to be celebrated.

Now, I should confess a few things. I grew up on Long Island and live in Washington, DC. My emotional location vis-à-vis 9/11 had been a strange place. It remains one of the worst days of my life and few things would make me happier than seeing the towers built back exactly the way there were and despite knowing New York as well as I know any place on earth, I still get lost in lower Manhattan sometimes because I still look for the WTC when I get out of the subway. Growing up, that was my compass in the city. It may always be. These are the reasons, my liberal friends tell me my opinion of anything 9/11 related is less valid because I am too close to it.

At the same time, I will never think we should do to ourselves what the terrorists could not; destroy out way of life and take away our belief in the ideals that inspired our republic. Racial intolerance cannot be mistaken for vigilance against terrorism. We cannot convince anyone outside of the US  to believe that we believe in the importance of the rule of law if we do not apply it uniformly within the US. And the Bill of Rights is as important today as it was on 9/10/2001. These are the reasons my conservative friends tell me my opinions on this subject are less valid because I “do not understand the impact 9/11 had on America.”

You can see the paradox. One might think these opinions would give me more reason to hate Osama bin Laden but I don’t. I can’t. He doesn’t deserve that. The closest thing I have had to “joy” at seeing him be killed was when I laughed at a photo of President Obama that had the caption “I am sorry it took me so long to get you my birth certificate, I was busy killing Osama bin Laden.”

At the end of the day though, if I were to become the kind of person who celebrates any loss of life — even of someone as reprehensible as this mass killer — I just become more like them and I don’t want that.

Lessons from Mumbai

Lessons from Mumbai

 

As I am sure you know, Mumbai was recently attacked and while the number of people killed was smaller than on 9/11 (which was not as many believe the ‘worst terrorist attack ever’) comparisons have been drawn between the two incidents because of the iconic nature of the buildings involved.  Because so many US officials think we are the center of the world, these are probably the same sort who refused to believe we live in a helio-centric vs. geo-centric solar system, many assumed this was really some kind of attack on either America or American values.  It wasn’t. 

 

1.        The US is not the only country on earth.  The Mumbai attacks had nothing to do with us.  Tensions between India and Pakistan have been high since they split. 

2.       When we change our way of life because of terrorists’ actions, they win.  I would rather die in a free society than live in a closed one.  That seems to be the way a lot of people in Mumbai feel.  I saw a quote from one Mumbai resident who said she refused to let the terrorists change the way she lived her life.  We need to pay attention to that.

3.       It’s really all about Allah.  No, really it isn’t.  We blame religion or ethnic conflict when bad things happen for a few reasons.  Different groups use these as cover for their actions but at the end of the day, people don’t blow themselves up for religion or racism.  They do it because they are poor and the targets they hit often are not.  Mumbai provides the perfect example of this; India’s economy is growing rapidly, Pakistan is stuck somewhere in a different century.  Thomas Friedman has talked about this a lot in terms of the Palestinians and Israelis; he has also said that no two countries that both have McDonalds have ever fought each other.  India definitely has the chain.

4.       Terrorism happens.  D’uh, I know.  Obvious right?  The Mumbai attacks did not involve planes or highly advanced weaponry, though Blackberries and GPS were used.  We are never going to end terrorism and we certainly aren’t going to be able to do it with the military or police. 

 

It’s a hard pill to swallow, this world we live in.  I don’t think the world changed on 9/11/01.  I think it just came calling.  If someone wants something badly enough, they will find a way to get it.  That includes drugs, or an abortion, or a gun or if they just want to create chaos.  We need to work on the whys and not the hows if we want to protect ourselves and our allies.  That’s the real lesson from Mumbai.

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