Just after 7:45 PM Pacific Daylight Time on Sunday, May 1, 2011, I was on Facebook (yet again) when I noticed I had received a new email. CNN Breaking News reported that Osama bin Laden had died.
This surely must have been the latest gag from the Yes Men or some other similar group. Something that should not have taken more than 10 weeks to do back in late-2001 is occurring now, 10 years later? Impossible!
The disbelief/denial wore off once I noticed that five of my friends on Facebook had just posted the same exact headline that the world’s most wanted terrorist was indeed killed and that President Obama was about to make a speech.
Turning on the news, every major station had interrupted regular programming to break the news and at the moment I saw it on television, I was euphoric. In my mind, the phrase “Osama bin Laden has been killed” translated into “the War on Terrorism is (finally) over.” Not remembering the last time I heard such major and good news about my country, I immediately felt the urge to spread the news to everyone in my contacts list and display Old Glory even as dusk set in, even though it is not proper flag etiquette to display the flag without illumination at night. I did not care; this was a historic day in our generation. The war was finally over!
The President of course was more than fashionably late as millions across the country tuned in with eager anticipation to hear the announcement officially come from our Commander-in-Chief himself. Our country had not seen the light of day for a decade and now a ray of light shone from the heavens with the hope of finally moving past the victimhood of 9/11.
President Obama finally arrived and began making his speech. I waited and waited to hear those magical words that never came. His cold delivery of the news and complete forgetfulness of the point of invading Afghanistan quickly extinguished that ray of light from up above. Bin Laden had been relegated to just one objective of the mission and was no longer the only objective.
The war was not over.
As the news stations began to broadcast the crowd of dozens, which later grew to hundreds (and reportedly thousands after I stopped watching) in front of the White House reminded me of the scene on the campus of UC Berkeley the night of November 4, 2008 upon the news that Senator Barack Obama had been elected President of the United States of America. Young people waving American flags, singing the national anthem, chanting “U-S-A” was very moving, because it indeed encapsulated the emotion of the nation on this momentous night.
However, as I watched and thought about the event that had just transpired half a world away, a sickening feeling began to develop within me. My fellow countrymen were not celebrating a turning point in the War on Terrorism; they were celebrating the United States government killing a human being.
That same day, the Church beatified a man who championed human life at all stages of development, a holy human being who spoke out against abortion, upheld the dignity of the elderly and terminally-ill, condemned unjust military actions in Iraq, and forgave someone who attempted to assassinate him. The stark contrast between the celebration of life when the sun rose that day and the celebration of death at the sun’s setting is very poignant contrast between the Church’s promotion of a Culture of Life in the global context of a Culture of Death. Bin Laden had been killed and vengeance still reigned at the end of the day.
The war is not over.
As the country revelled into the night (or in my case, slept), the news spread across the international community. The next morning, I discovered that Pope Benedict XVI issued a statement, which truly reflected the message of the Easter Season, which is to celebrate the life-giving resurrection of our Lord and Saviour.
This surely must have been the latest gag from the Yes Men or some other similar group. Something that should not have taken more than 10 weeks to do back in late-2001 is occurring now, 10 years later? Impossible!
The disbelief/denial wore off once I noticed that five of my friends on Facebook had just posted the same exact headline that the world’s most wanted terrorist was indeed killed and that President Obama was about to make a speech.
Turning on the news, every major station had interrupted regular programming to break the news and at the moment I saw it on television, I was euphoric. In my mind, the phrase “Osama bin Laden has been killed” translated into “the War on Terrorism is (finally) over.” Not remembering the last time I heard such major and good news about my country, I immediately felt the urge to spread the news to everyone in my contacts list and display Old Glory even as dusk set in, even though it is not proper flag etiquette to display the flag without illumination at night. I did not care; this was a historic day in our generation. The war was finally over!
The President of course was more than fashionably late as millions across the country tuned in with eager anticipation to hear the announcement officially come from our Commander-in-Chief himself. Our country had not seen the light of day for a decade and now a ray of light shone from the heavens with the hope of finally moving past the victimhood of 9/11.
President Obama finally arrived and began making his speech. I waited and waited to hear those magical words that never came. His cold delivery of the news and complete forgetfulness of the point of invading Afghanistan quickly extinguished that ray of light from up above. Bin Laden had been relegated to just one objective of the mission and was no longer the only objective.
The war was not over.
As the news stations began to broadcast the crowd of dozens, which later grew to hundreds (and reportedly thousands after I stopped watching) in front of the White House reminded me of the scene on the campus of UC Berkeley the night of November 4, 2008 upon the news that Senator Barack Obama had been elected President of the United States of America. Young people waving American flags, singing the national anthem, chanting “U-S-A” was very moving, because it indeed encapsulated the emotion of the nation on this momentous night.
However, as I watched and thought about the event that had just transpired half a world away, a sickening feeling began to develop within me. My fellow countrymen were not celebrating a turning point in the War on Terrorism; they were celebrating the United States government killing a human being.
That same day, the Church beatified a man who championed human life at all stages of development, a holy human being who spoke out against abortion, upheld the dignity of the elderly and terminally-ill, condemned unjust military actions in Iraq, and forgave someone who attempted to assassinate him. The stark contrast between the celebration of life when the sun rose that day and the celebration of death at the sun’s setting is very poignant contrast between the Church’s promotion of a Culture of Life in the global context of a Culture of Death. Bin Laden had been killed and vengeance still reigned at the end of the day.
The war is not over.
As the country revelled into the night (or in my case, slept), the news spread across the international community. The next morning, I discovered that Pope Benedict XVI issued a statement, which truly reflected the message of the Easter Season, which is to celebrate the life-giving resurrection of our Lord and Saviour.
In the face of a man's death, a Christian never rejoices, but reflects on the serious responsibilities of each person before God and before men, and hopes and works so that every event may be the occasion for the further growth of peace and not of hatred.
The Holy Father’s words caused me to pause and really mull over bin Laden’s death in the context of my faith tradition. While I never intend to commit the intrinsically evil actions that bin Laden ordered to be carried out through Al-Qaeda, what areas in my life do I choose to reject God?
It is never easy to be a Christian, is it? As Jesus reminds us in the Good News according to Saint Matthew:
You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbour and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your heavenly Father, for he makes his sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust.
The counterintuitive love is that which society does not teach. This type of unconditional love has one source and one source alone. I will be the first to admit that I am not perfect and this kind of love is difficult to emulate, but it takes moments like these that highlight the contrast between what is popular against what is right that reminds me which path to take.
The war will not be over unless each of us, regardless of faith, takes up the cross of which Pope Benedict XVI has reminded us. An event such as the murder of Osama bin Laden ought to be an occasion for further growth of peace.
As radical extremists in isolated pockets around the world continue to kill innocent civilians, as injustice continues to create divisions and conflict in our neighbourhoods and families, and as the War on Terrorism powers ahead with full force and support from the Government of the United States of America, my homeland, I urge everyone to offer up this prayer as a reminder of what each of us can do personally to not just support non-violence but to be makers of peace:
The war will not be over unless each of us, regardless of faith, takes up the cross of which Pope Benedict XVI has reminded us. An event such as the murder of Osama bin Laden ought to be an occasion for further growth of peace.
As radical extremists in isolated pockets around the world continue to kill innocent civilians, as injustice continues to create divisions and conflict in our neighbourhoods and families, and as the War on Terrorism powers ahead with full force and support from the Government of the United States of America, my homeland, I urge everyone to offer up this prayer as a reminder of what each of us can do personally to not just support non-violence but to be makers of peace:
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love.
Where there is injury, pardon.
Where there is doubt, faith.
Where there is despair, hope.
Where there is darkness, light.
Where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master,
grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console;
to be understood, as to understand;
to be loved, as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive.
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.
Amen.
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