setting our minds

It's so strange to hear Americans buzzing with joy, proudly passing along the news that we have murdered Osama bin Laden. It's so odd to hear the President state that he ordered another man be killed. No judge and jury in this case. But it is okay, just because of who this man is. Surely we all agree. He must be murdered.
I'm an Obama supporter. I always have been.
"His demise should be welcomed by all who believe in peace and human dignity." I believe in peace. I feel quite strongly about human dignity. Yet I have mixed emotions about this.
By no means am I an Al Quaeda supporter or a Bin Laden fan. It seems he was quite a terrible man. I was horrified by the events of 9/11. But I was also horrified by our actions that followed. I was horrified by the murder of hundreds of thousands of Iraqi women and children who had no part of 9/11 or terrorism of any sort. We committed those murders. All of us did.
"America can do whatever it sets it's mind to."

Osama was clearly a man who believed viciously in what he thought to be true. So much so that he was willing to kill for it, willing to die for it. And no educated person can argue that there aren't abundant, legitimate reasons to hate Americans.
He fought and killed for his own beliefs, for his extremist faction. In that way, he was just like us. We too fight and kill for what we believe. And our beliefs are held just as fiercely as his.
There is no "right and wrong" in extremism. We are not right, and they are not wrong. We are all just believers, holding fast to morals that we can no more prove correct than our beliefs in adversary gods. His followers/sons/cousins/nephews will be incensed by his death, just as our parents/spouses/children/friends were enraged by the Trade Center attacks. And the killing will continue. Violence begets violence.

After the week I've spent being utterly disheartened and dismayed with virtually all of humankind, I'm puzzled by the cheering. I flash back to my disgust in the late months of 2011. The ignorant Toby Keith songs encouraging a "boot in their ass," the Muslim fear and hatred, the vilification of all people brown and the American flag stuck to every gas-guzzling Hummer and pick-up truck. I hated being American.
As everyone's profile picture seems to change simultaneously, Facebook reminds me of why I'm having flashbacks:




Last week I followed a car that had a bumper sticker that read: "Nuke 'em. It worked once before." I was tempted to ram into him, if only so that we might get out of our cars and I could scream at him for his asinine beliefs, about the permanent effects of radiation... and how it will sooner or later be our turn.

Today at Walden Pond I sat and wrote about how difficult I find it. Coping with my own anger sometimes, that is. How hypocritical it is for me to believe in non-violence, and yet become so very enraged in the face of ignorance. How heavy-handed and judgmental I can be when faced with the views I so passionately loathe. How I certainly do not always manage to treat others as I want them to act. How violence, even emotional or verbal... begets violence.


I mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy. "Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that."
- Martin Luther King, Jr.