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yesterday, obama delivered a short, charismatic address to the nation. summarized in one sentence he told the american people, osama bin laden is dead (or according to fox news, obama bin laden is dead). this electrifying statement was the fruit of years’ arduous research, covert operations, and heroic navy seals. 

a country that still suffered the haunting aftermath of its tragedy, citizens whose friends or co-workers or distant neighbors died, families who were directly affected and victimized by 9/11 were brought together once again, not in the name of tragedy, but justice. we, the citizens of the united states, were put at an eerie kind of peace knowing that a glorious justice was served in abbottabad, pakistan. 

but in the midst of this relieving news, i can’t help but think that osama was, at his very root, also a person, like every american citizen, like every member of the african bambara tribe, like you, and like me. yes, he was actually a person, though his actions easily classified him as a monster. at one point in his life, i hope he had at least one person who loved him. i wonder what his childhood was like. he was born into a wealthy family, which enabled him to receive a prestigious education. but on his dad’s side, he was one of over 50 children, and his father died when he was 11. his mother and stepfather raised him. i wonder what it would have been like to be his best friend. he married four different women, divorced two. i wonder what it would be like to have him as a father. he reportedly had anywhere between 15-24 children. i wonder what triggered his need to fulfill such horrifying deeds. he reportedly dropped out of the university to focus his education in religion instead. i wonder all of these things, because no one is born this way - despite what lady gaga says - this way of violence and hate that claims to be riding on religious, moral values. if you look into a baby’s eyes, the kind of innocence he or she has is the most startling kind of beauty there ever was. weirdly enough, osama was a baby at one point. but what kind of deranged, psychological childhood experiences, life experiences did he have to go through in order to reach where he was preceding his death?  

”I will mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy. Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, 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.” Martin Luther King, Jr.

*edit

apparently, the quote i have above is partially fabricated. here’s the bona fide version:

“Are we seeking power for power’s sake? Or are we seeking to make the world and our nation better places to live. If we seek the latter, violence can never provide the answer. The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral, begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy. Instead of diminishing evil, it multiplies it. Through violence you may murder the liar, but you cannot murder the lie, nor establish the truth. 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.”

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