Why I’m not celebrating
I’m sure you’ve heard the news by now. After 9 1/2 years of pursuit, Usama Bin Laden has been declared killed by US Forces. I watched the television coverage late into the night, with very mixed emotions.
I am glad that he’s not ‘out there’ anymore. I’m not even mourning his death, really. But I cannot stomach the celebrations that I’m witnessing.
Let me say right now that I consider our military personnel separately from what I’m about to say. Their story is not our own. Their emotional attachment to this news is and deserves to be on a different level. I understand something of their relief and their satisfaction at a job done. Something.
But for those who have done mostly nothing…those average Americans who sit at home day after day, living their comparatively cushy lives, risking nothing and sacrificing nothing…for them – because of them – I feel saddened. Weary. Ashamed.
UBL did evil things. Few would argue with that. The world is probably a [marginally] safer place without him in it…though I don’t for one moment deceive myself enough to think there aren’t hundreds more radicals lined up to take his place.
I’m not sorry he is gone.
But I’m very, very sorry that another soul has been lost.
By earthly standards, Usama Bin Laden was about as bad as it gets. He was ‘less than’ me.
But by God’s standards? He was another child. A child just like me.
A child loved and lost.
I cannot allow myself to lose sight of that, and I cannot bring myself to celebrate something so contrary to the heart of God.
I don’t generally like to hear scripture quoted in a context like this. It can seem so self-righteous, and that’s not my intent. But in the hopes that it might give you pause, or reason to look at this victory in a new light…
Do not gloat when your enemy falls; when they stumble, do not let your heart rejoice, or the Lord will see and disapprove, and turn His wrath away from them. ~Proverbs 24:17
As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked. ~Ezekiel 33:11
From my feed, Facebook statuses from the past 10 hours:
‘Good News. Osama Bin Laden is in hell.’
‘Wish we had footage we could all watch on tv, Al-Jazeera style’
‘We should have a parade with his head on a stick’
‘Earthquake warning: Bin Laden is in hell and even they don’t want him.’
‘They should strap a bomb to him and blow his body to bits, let the pieces rain down over the whole [bleep] country’
Nice.
Oh and of course the numerous ‘Ding Dong Bin Laden’s dead’ posts. Cheering the fact that he’s gone ‘below, below, below, yo-ho!’
Awesome.
I’m very sorry that this nation, despised for its arrogance in much of the world, will now be making international headlines for our celebration in the streets. Much like they celebrated the terrorist attack that started all of this. Much like I imagine they would celebrate the assassination of our President. And we would be sickened by their celebrations, wouldn’t we? Because it’s evil. Because we’re above that.
Except when the shoe is on the other foot, apparently. Then we’re able to appreciate the differences.
‘But we’re the good guys!’
Right. The good guys.
Who, in that moment, don’t actually look all that different from the ‘bad guys’
Perception is reality.
Remember that while you celebrate.
Conduct yourself accordingly.
We did what needed to be done, but we don’t have to delight in it.
I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign Lord. ~Ezekiel 18: 32
And…the job is not done.
Tags: celebrating death, Ezekiel, Osama Bin Laden, Proverbs, scripture, UBL, Usama Bin Laden
Current Affairs, Faith & Spirituality, How I See the World | Heather May 2, 2011
Facebook comments:
By Sarah Ferguson, May 2, 2011 @ 11:19 am
This is a wonderful post and truly encompasses how I have felt all morning. Even though we are a military family, both my husband and I were shocked at the jubilation. It is what needed to get done, but it is death just the same. Thank you for this courageous blog post.
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By Dan, May 2, 2011 @ 11:25 am
So, was killing Osama Bin Laden a good thing or a bad thing? Can we celebrate a victory, while not reveling in a person’s death? How are we to conduct ourselves at a time like this?
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Linda Reply:
May 2nd, 2011 at 11:51 am
I understand your quandary. To me, the answer is that we live in a fallen & very much imperfect world. There is a tension between the best and highest good and that which must be done to beat back the evil, so to speak. This was a victory in beating back the evil, but it is still sad, when a human soul is lost for all eternity.
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Heather - Hopelessly Flawed Reply:
May 2nd, 2011 at 12:10 pm
‘How are we to conduct ourselves at a time like this?’
With humility, would be my suggestion.
Religion aside, if we love our military, we need to do what we can to keep them safe. In this instance, I believe that celebrating in the streets puts them in harm’s way. We need not give our enemies more reason to target us.
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Emerson Reply:
May 2nd, 2011 at 4:06 pm
Agreed wholeheartedly. As soon as the announcement was met with public gloating and celebration, my heart went to any military men and women currently on a tour. They’re in far more danger than they were before. Retaliation is almost sure to follow.
Cutting off the head of an ideology is like cutting off the head of a mythical hydra. Two will grow back in its place. This is far from over and all I can do right now is PRAY that our death toll doesn’t rise as a result of this sickening celebration.
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By darcie-such the spot, May 2, 2011 @ 12:35 pm
My Facebook feed looked very similar this morning and I found myself cringing in response.
I can’t come up with even a comment that adds anything. You said it all so well.
darcie-such the spot´s last [type] ..Team Cass
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By Allison@Slice of Heaven, May 2, 2011 @ 2:18 pm
I totally agree with you on this one. I awoke to the news this morning and was shocked by the “partying”! I, too, thought of the eerily similar images we see when “they” do the same thing after their attacks on us! I also felt the duty to talk to my son about this before school today so that he understood some portion of this story before possibly getting some of the same responses at school today. It was actually a pretty somber moment as I told him about what happened almost 10 years ago. I told him that we “had gotten the bad guy” but that doesn’t mean we need to celebrate about killing someone, but to pray and remember those whose lives were lost and for the families whose memories of that day may bring up some bad and sad feelings!
Allison@Slice of Heaven´s last [type] ..Happily Ever After
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By Callie, May 2, 2011 @ 2:23 pm
Thank you for expressing how I felt…well written, thank you for writing this post. It saddened me as well the hooting and cheering that has been going on in regards to this mas death. God sees who and what…at all times. Blessed are those that follow His words, God have mercy on those that don’t….
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By Rachael, May 2, 2011 @ 3:53 pm
I agreen with you 10000000000000000000000 million percent on this!
As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked. ~Ezekiel 33:11
Read more: http://www.hopelesslyflawed.com/2011/05/why-im-not-celebrating/#ixzz1LE6qaMq8
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By Jennifer, May 2, 2011 @ 4:08 pm
“But who prays for Satan? Who, in eighteen centuries, has had the common humanity to pray for the one sinner that needed it most?”
— Mark Twain
I’ve been thinking the same thing all day today. My husband is a service member who is currently deployed in the Middle East, I can’t help but feel that this was yet another of God’s children who was killed. Though he was evil and horrible, God loved him just as He loves all His children. Even the ones who disappoint Him the most. While I am glad that Bin Laden will never be a threat to anyone again, I just can’t rejoice in his death.
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By Heather, May 2, 2011 @ 10:00 pm
Thank you for being brave enough to share your feelings about this. You are definitely not alone. I’ve felt this way each and every time a “bad” person’s death is celebrated.
My first memory of this type of thing was when I was in 9th grade and Ted Bundy was executed. My mom and I were driving to school/work and the radio station was celebrating. Even making a “buzz” sound at the moment Bundy was electrocuted.
Yes, I agree that these men should not be free to live and continue to harm others. But I will not celebrate any death. As you’ve mentioned, we are all children of God, created in His image.
Heather´s last [type] ..Bad Season
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By kinzi, May 3, 2011 @ 7:15 am
Hello Heather, a friend linked your blog. Love it.
I am an American Christ-follower living in Amman, Jordan. On November 11 (9/11 European calendar) 2005, Al Q suicide bombers detonated in three hotels, killing a wedding party and shaking our home a five minute walk away.
OBL changed our world. And I am not celebrating his death. I am relieved he cannot kill anyone else, and that God meted this justice through Navy SEALS, but my prayer had been that he would only live long enough to repent or meet His maker. Lest one think me naive, let me share.
Three other terrorists in Amman had seen visions of Jesus Christ and been spoken to about their evil. They repented and believed. A fourth had considered violence at a school with lots of foreign kids, but Jesus met him before his plans were accomplished.
No one living is beyond the long arm of the Lord. OBL is now, and while I struggle to rustle up a little celebratory emotion, all I can come back to is the fear of God. Because I too am hopelessly flawed without it.
I understand not every celebrant had crossed the line into relishing death, nor is everyone lacking celebration callous to what he did and deserves. It is all measured in degrees of the heart, and we will be accountable for where we allow our hearts to go in it.
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By kinzi, May 3, 2011 @ 7:18 am
Heather, another fb friend and I debated this one loosely, I am not sure that we can claim to be God’s children unless we know Him as Father through Jesus. OBL was a beloved human created in His image with the capability of choosing to glorify His Creator, but he did not choose to be adopted into sonship.
kinzi´s last [type] ..King Solomon and Jesus Christ on OBL
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By Catherine, May 3, 2011 @ 1:54 pm
You summed my feelings exactly and thank you for quoting what he are taught from the Bible regarding this. I have actually already written a poem based on those ideas.
Take care.
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By John, May 4, 2011 @ 4:26 am
I would like to respond to Mike Maher who posted above, but I do not have a Facebook account.
As someone who DID lose family on 9/11, I’m really sick of people speaking for me. His death brings me no closure. My brother is just as dead now as he was last week.
As the author said, I’m glad that he’s gone, but we don’t have to rejoice in his death. And yes, it is murder. You may call it justice as you choose, but that doesn’t make it fact. I’d be willing to bet Bin Laden himself used a different term to describe what he did to us. Doesn’t make it any less murderous.
I really can’t believe that anyone would feel justified in dancing over a dead body and then claiming the moral high ground. There seems to be a lot of that going around. Makes it harder to distinguish the righteous from the evil. Are we good only because we claim to be, or because we are proving ourselves to be cut from a different cloth? Or because we gloat only over the murder of one man, and not thousands? Is it simply the volume of killing that makes one good or evil? We feel justified in what we did, (and actually I believe that we are), but they certainly feel justified in what they did, also. It’s all relative. That’s why, as the author said, I believe it is important to show some humility and not act just as they do. We need to remind ourselves and to show the world that we are different. This behavior only highlights our similarities.
As someone who lost a brother that day, I’d prefer not to have anything else in common with them.
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By Beth, May 6, 2011 @ 5:32 pm
Thanks for saying exactly what I feel.
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By Becky, May 8, 2011 @ 11:52 am
Happy to see that I am not the only one saddened and embarrassed by American’s celebrating death in the street.
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