Questioning the celebration.

Today, I heard the big news. I mean, seriously, who didn't hear the news?

Osama bin Laden is dead.

I was on Facebook, and all of these posts started popping up. People that I haven't seen active on Facebook for a while are all coming out of the cracks to share the news and voice opinions.

There were tones of celebration, of relief, of vengeance. But something didn't feel right to me. Should I really be happy about this news?

I watched President Obama's speech, a very well articulated narrative of the last 10 years. Starting with a retelling of September 11, and then describing how it all went down. Secret mission. Firefight. Death.

And then, back on Facebook (of course), I saw this posted:

"Through violence you may murder the hater,
but you do not murder hate.
In fact, violence merely increases hate.
...So it goes.
Returning violence for violence multiplies violence,
......adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars.
Darkness cannot drive out darkness:
only light can do that.
Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that."
-MLKJr

And I realized why I feel so uneasy about all this.

This day will be marked as a day to begin a new era, one free of a tyrant who caused immeasurable pain and suffering around the globe. But this new era was begun by violence. By death.

And I don't really feel like celebrating. All I can think about is how Osama bin Laden was a human. A person like you and me. Someone who God loves. And I am sad to think that this man never got to experience true love, true joy, and true peace. My heart breaks thinking about how he never got to know the Lord.

Jesus teaches us not to throw the first stone. He teaches us that we are to forgive and love our enemies, not gauge out their eyes as they may have done to us. Jesus experienced the most painful death ever--with the weight of the world on his shoulders. He was betrayed, spat upon, and treated like an enemy. And when he came back, after overcoming death (!), he didn't do so with vengeance or violence. He came back with love and forgiveness.

Violence truly begets violence. How are we ever going to break the cycle if we justify our violent actions by pointing fingers? I am by no means saying that bin Laden was a stand-up guy (although, I have no idea what he was like in real life), nor am I saying that what he's done was right or excusable.

What are we teaching our children when we celebrate a death like this one? That this death and this violence is okay and something to be celebrated, but the death that happens in our own communities isn't? Since when has any death become socially acceptable?

Jesus didn't put footnotes in his instructions saying "Love your enemy (except when they do something really really bad and make you really really mad, and then it's okay to kill them and be happy about it)" or "I'd prefer you not to throw the first stone, but here's an approved list of misdeeds that are just evil enough that will allow you to throw that stone guilt-free".


Maybe we should think twice before we celebrate violence and death. Otherwise, where is there room for love and forgiveness?