Like many others, I was conflicted about the murder of Osama Bin Laden.  Certainly he brought this level of human justice down upon himself through his own actions.  Perhaps the world is a safer place without him.  Well, perhaps.  On the other hand, the sight of people reveling at the death of another, even someone as vilified as him, does give one pause for thought.

These musings crossed my mind:

-  I believe that most of us, if we live long enough on this planet, will garner a few enemies here and there.  I know I have.  I tried to picture what my family might feel like if one of these folks showed up at my memorial service, chanting their excitement that I was dead.  And I tried to think about what their intention in doing so might be.

-  I wonder what it is in our human nature that we can so easily garner so much hatred so quickly.  I do not believe we were born with that type of anger and fear in our hearts, so I suggest that we must have learned it somewhere along the line.

-  Does the reason we hate and vilify another person have any relationship to how we feel about ourselves?

-  Given the propensity for humans to follow the lead of others, how easily could crowd jubilation turn into mob action?

I have given thought to these questions, and I still await the answers for myself.  My pondering actually left me needing to explore my own behavior and reaction to this event.

When I observed that Osama Bin Laden’s death was being exploited in the news media and beyond, I considered it another obsession that society has with violence and, quite frankly, media ratings.   After watching the reaction of people around the world, I think it was necessary for that exposure to happen, as it became an important world-wide “teachable moment” available to each of us.

When we put our own emotions of this event aside, we have the opportunity to ask ourselves questions about ourselves, and ponder the answers we receive.

To your teachable moment,
Marion