I have just watched the announcement and President Obama's confirmation of Osama Bin Laden's death. All I can say is thank God. It's been almost ten years since the tragic events of 9/11. I remember that day vividly. I was still in college and I got up that morning to go to class. I sat down next to a girl who turned to me and said, "Hey did you hear that a plane slammed into the World Trade Center?" I turned to her, confused and said, "No I didn't hear that. When was this?" She shrugged. "Just this morning, it sounds pretty bad."
I wasn't sure what to make of this. I had no idea the scope or immensity of the attacks until our teacher took us to a nearby dorm and we turned on the TV. I remember watching in horror as the first plane slammed into the building then the second. The teacher dismissed us and I went back to my dorm and sat with my dormmates in the common room and we watched the rest of that day. I remember thinking to myself, "This is the Pearl Harbor of my generation."
As information about Bin Laden and the attacks came out and as the World Trade Center and three thousand people sat in a pile of smoldering ash thought then that I would see the beginnings of a new world war. I saw that my generation would probably be called to do something as our grandparents had done. I was more or less right on that, though the call was not as large as I had thought, nor was it compulsory. I didn't volunteer, though I did think about it. In some ways I suppose I am glad I did not, considering.
In the end though, as the years dragged on I kept wondering, "when are we going to get that sucker?" It seemed like every opportunity was missed. I heard the conspiracy theories, and I immediately dismissed them. I am never one who is so weak minded as to believe such things as gospel, which is why so much of what I listen to on the way to work makes me go crazy. But that is a topic for another time.
It is here, finally tonight, that I feel a sense of resolution. I certainly don't think anything is over. The terrorist network set up by Osama Bin Laden is much larger than ever before, and I don't doubt they will attack out of vengeance and to prove they are still relevant. I do fear another large attack to accentuate this point, and I pray we can prevent it. We have been at war for the extent of this ten years, and no matter where anyone stands on the politics and decisions that caused things, I think we can all agree that we want the destruction to end.
I cant speak for Islam. I know no Muslims in my life. I would hope that they all wish for peace as much as we do. Certainly most of the conflict of the past century or so has centered around the desire for oil in their countries. But there is such a rich history, a diversity, a unique culture. I only wish we could find more common ground, prove that we are friends, not enemies. So often I hear people say "well just bomb them all, kill them all." That scares me, because that is the mindset of the very people who carried out the 9/11 attacks. If we resort to such tactics and thinking, we are no better than those who attacked us to begin with. In the end, the cycle will only continue until the end of time.
As Gandhi once said, an eye for an eye makes the world blind. What more can anyone say when it comes to terror, war, and Osama Bin Laden?
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