blossy

Osama Dead! these were the headlines today. In huge block letters, the Red Eyequoting President Obamadeclared, Justice has been done.

My question here is, was justice really done? Is this true justice? It feels like some broken fragment of justice.

This is the sort of justice spoken of in the Old Testament. This is an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. Does this truly spell out justice to anyone? Ghandi said "An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind." Isn't this sort of justice falling victim to the idea of redemptive violence? Doesn't the response of violence for violence simply sate anger for awhile? Catharsis is good for a delay and a slight numbing, I've never known it to heal. Retaliatory violence does not fix nor remove the hurt or pain. It anesthatizes any compassion we might have. It helps us not feel so badly, but the hurt is not any closer to healing. Retaliation serves to embitter our enemies, strengthen their resolve to hurt us and thus create an endless cycle. Imperfect justice such as this can truly lead to breeding hatred and the stifling of compassion.

Osama bin Laden was killed yesterday, in my opinion justice was not truly done. Real, honest to goodness justice brings healing...to both ends of the spectrum. Real justice brings reconciliation and enemies laying down arms and recognizing that their "enemies" are truly their brothers in humanity.

This is going to sound harsh...very harsh but this is how I see it and especially how I saw it last night and today with the rejoicing in the streets. America did not seek true justice in this conflict. America sought revenge. I don't care how you view it celebrating someone's death, *anyone's* death is inappropriate. The sight of people celebrating and chanting "U-S-A! U-S-A!" at the gates of the White House sort of took my breath away, not out of joy but because of the wave of nausea that swept over me. I was nauseated by the fact that there is a distinct message being sent to the rest of the world that was not considered by any of them. What *is* that footage going to be seen as to the world as a whole, to Muslims in America or anywhere else in the world, to extremists? Is this really the message, we as Americans, want to send to anyone? Much less to those who might have a less than favorable view of our country already? Is this the sort of message we want to send, especially to anyone who has experienced our retaliatory violence and might just once want to strike back?

Celebrating the "death of an era" inside a terrorist organization *is* warranted and yes, with his death he did signal the death of a certain era inside Al-Qaeda; but what sort of era? Was his actually the calm before the storm? Was he violent and extreme toward America and Western Civilization; but as the "beginning" was he more temperant than those to come? His death signified the end of "an era" in America for certain. This "era" was the "era" where anyone from the ages of 1-20 has lived anywhere from 50-100% of their life knowing Osama bin Laden as the "Hitler" of their generation. Anyone from the ages of 1-20 has lived almost all of their life knowing the taxing pain of war on a country. Anyone from the ages of 1-20 has grown up with the certaint of Osama bin Laden as the ultimate enemy of America. The impact of this war is worldwide. The other end of the spectrum, anyone from ages 1-20 in Iraq and Afghanistan especially knows America as their "enemy" in some way, moreso now than ever before. Perhaps this "era" can finally be stated as ended; but...where is the peace and when does the healing happen now? One person is dead, there are many others waiting to fill his shoes...