Of course I have to share my thoughts on the death of Bin Laden.

I have been fascinated this morning over the differing reactions to the death of Osama Bin Laden.  My first reaction was simply surprise. I remember having a conversation about Bin Laden a couple of months ago and expressing my tendency to think he was already dead. I guess I was wrong.

Before I go too deep into my thoughts on some of the implications surrounding the death of Mr. Bin Laden, let me share a couple of my favorite quotes that surfaced on facebook. One is from a long lost high school friend and the other from the only politician that I like enough to follow on facebook..

“Trump is on MSNBC demanding Bin Laden’s death certificate.” –Santico Valenzuela

“He is dead. It was necessary and just. But I won’t rejoice. I honor the memory of all terror victims and recommit to the difficult work of peace.” –Mayor Cory Booker

There are potentially hundreds of questions that could come through analysis of just the last quote alone. Is killing ever just?  Should death ever be celebrated? I can’t condemn the celebrations that took place over the death of Bin Laden, but like Mayor Booker I will not be joining in. 

I can understand the need for emotional release following the death of someone who has loomed so large over our nation’s collective psyche for the last decade.  I can understand the sigh of relief that comes, even momentarily, through a sense of closure to a trauma as grave as 9/11.

Perhaps my hesitancy comes from a tendency to be an emotional minimalist, but also a person who tries to take a long view of history.  I can find no sorrow in Bin Laden’s death, but cannot forget the others who have died in our search to find him. I can muster no sympathy for his cause but I also cannot forget that our nation played a large part in creating a platform for his extremist views.

In the 1980’s, during the Afghan war with the Soviet Union, it was the United States who, in part, supported the Mujahidin that gave legitimacy to the Taliban and people like Osama Bin Laden. We have a long history of installing and supporting dictators like Hosni Mubarak and Mobutu Sese Seko while removing democratically elected leaders like Patrice Lumumba and Salvador Allende. We’ve gone to war over genocide in places like Bosnia while choosing not to in places like Rwanda and Darfur.

So while some celebrate, some pontificate and others reflect, my only hope is that we learn from our history. I hope that we can take lessons that our actions, as individuals or as a nation, have wider implications.

So what I am saying in response to the questions that will undoubtedly surface surrounding Osama Bin Laden’s death? Nothing really, none of use knows the answers to these hard questions. I may just be one of the few willing to admit that. My only real sentiment is that there is nothing new under the sun. My only real advice is, question what you think you know, take it one step further, analyze one level deeper, and never stop questioning your own motivations and actions.  I doubt that Osama Bin Laden questioned his own beliefs. I doubt that he sat down and thoughtfully considered the validity of other traditions or other ways of being. I doubt that he gave much thought to the wider implications of his actions.