Una Lástima

What an interesting weekend this has turned out to be, for the whole world. Natural disasters in this country. Continuing struggles for freedom against oppressive and violent regimes in Africa and the Middle East. My beloved figure skating happening in Moscow after the earthquake in Japan.

A royal wedding and a celebration of life on Friday. Finding Osama bin Laden and a celebration of death last night.

There have been a lot of interesting things posted on Facebook and in the news since we found out about that last one. Some of the things that people have said, that really nice, good people have said, just break my heart. Yeah, bin Laden was a really horrible person. Absolutely, he murdered thousands of people and deserved a punishment. I highly doubt that there could have been a scenario where he could have been captured and brought to trial. At the same time, it's really sad that there is such a feeling of joy at his death.

Death isn't joyful. While at times it may be a relief for a suffering loved one, it still isn't joyful. While in this case, it may be a relief for the country or the families of his victims, it still isn't joyful. We are still at war. The victims aren't coming back now.

It makes me think of a conversation my sister and Dad and I had one day after a Sunday School lesson, I think when I was home over Christmas break. I think we had read the verse "a time to plant and reap, a time to kill and a time for peace..." and probably another one. We were talking about when it could be "good" to kill. Someone mentioned WW2 and how it was good because it stopped Hitler from murdering more people. We disagreed - we thought that war was a horrible, terrible thing, but that in that case even worse things would have happened without it. I think this matches perfectly with last night's news and reactions.

Killing bin Laden wasn't good. It may have been necessary, but it wasn't good. Good would be the terrorists repenting, changing their minds and embracing peace instead of hate. Good would mean that 9/11 and so many other bombings and attacks would never have happened. Instead of rejoicing, I think today would be a better time for mourning - for remembering what we have lost and trying to prevent further loss. It is also a time to celebrate what is truly good - a happy British couple, peace, new babies, freedom, ending poverty.