Am I really supposed to feel bad Osama’s gone? Really?

For the past couple of days, yours truly got bested by something she swore she never believed in—germs. Sadly, their existence is waging a war against me and while I have tried to defiantly fight them with King of the Hill marathons, an assortment of high fiber granola bars and Penny snuggle fests on the couch, it turns out the best course of action in antibiotics. Damn you western medicine. At least I got the ‘one size fits all’ antibiotic, so chlamydia, if I have you, consider yourself cured. How’s that for a win win?

The one thing that disrupted my three-toed sloth sleep schedule for the past couple of days was the Osama bin Laden’s death. I checked my Facebook blearily Sunday night at 10:30 to see a status update that read “Holy shit, Osama’s dead!”. Nothing wakes me up harder than a headline like that, besides the first day of ski season. So, I tracked it online and saw that it was indeed true. I waited for an hour to hear Obama’s statement, and as brief as it was, I felt a happy and giddy sensation. Like there was finally some justice in this world. Well, whatever, Obama said it better than me.

And so I followed it more on Monday. I got to learn all about Osama’s compound in Pakistan, the operation US soldiers (and maybe Pakistani officials??) took to find and kill him and the woman he used as a human shield. Then, I check back to Facebook for a diversion and to play some WordTwist. I’m not calling anyone out, but some of the posts on my Newsfeed were admonishing people who ‘supported the circle of murder’ and that we should never rejoice in death. Yeah, I hate the death penalty. Yes, I even save the lives of insects. But you know what, I’m not going to be accosted via social networking to change my feelings. And here’s why.

I can't apologize for my finding of solace in the death of a person who literally rejoiced in the deaths of thousands of Americans. Osama bin Laden hated everyone who lives in America. No, that’s not true—he hates you if you live anywhere or acted in any way that isn’t his perfect idea of how humans should act and live. I never say the word hate and mean it, but this time I really hate what Osama’s done to our world. He’s made the peaceful religion of Islam feared and prejudiced by the world. His efforts have marginalized a religious people and brainwashed some into more violence, without any regard for them as individuals. His agenda has made us distrust our neighbors and caused not only the deaths directly affected by his terrorist actions, but also the thousands of deaths of armed forces who only wanted to support their country and its values.

Am I supposed to be sorry that he’s dead? I hate death but I love justice more. Gandhi says ‘An eye for an eye and the whole world goes blind’ but that only works if your opponent is a human being. Anyone who can exact that much terrorism and spread that much violence doesn’t deserve anything less than he got.

I don’t recall anyone telling Americans in the 1940s to feel sorry when Hitler died. If you want to feel sympathy for Osama’s death, why don’t you try feeling sympathy for each and every victim and their family members of his terrorist exploits. Don’t look at just 9/11 but also the embassy bombings in Kenya, the deaths at the USS Cole and so many others, including deaths of his own people. If you still can feel sorry for him dying after all of that, then be my guest, try to make me guilty too.