It’s a humanizing experience, the moment where reality hits and one realizes they are in fact mortal,watching CNN late at night, trying to sleep, and hearing John King announce that Osama bin Laden has been killed.
His death, something many had not expected to occur for years to come, has stunned the minds of Americans. Immediately after Osama’s death was announced, crowds of Americans, both young and old, gathered outside of the White House screaming “USA! USA! USA!” while holding American flags. Here , however, students are far away from the conflict in the Middle East. It would appear that only those who have parents or older siblings in the military know the true consequences of the nine year long mission to hunt down Osama bin Laden.
However, the student body has many varied opinions about the murder of Osama.
“His death is more of a symbol of a change of course in the war in the Middle East and I definitely see it as an achievement. I believe that the future is something that we must be concerned with. Where will the fall of such a significant leader take the United States operations?” Jessica Luhrman, junior, said.
Jessica, experiencing the horror of 9/11 with the rest of America at the age of seven, realizes that the biggest change to America after Osama bin Laden’s death is foreign policy operations. Spending over eleven billion dollars to take down through counter-terrorism operations, the United States now has new objectives to carry out concerning the global war on terrorism.
“America may be in a little trouble. The Middle East might want revenge on us. Here at Mac, however, tensions to foreigners isn’t as bad. [The student body] is too young to have lots of anger towards foreigners. Now that [bin Laden] is gone, I’m pretty sure that most Americans will be less resistive to foreigners.” Cody Sedillos, senior, said.
Hoping to go to college and have a life in a small town, Cody understands how many may be happy with Osama’s death. Through critical reflection, however, his death may not mean that much after all. The consequences of the mission may be larger than the achievement.
“I don’t think that we should be celebrating Osama’s death as much as we are. In a way, it has been taken to the extreme, and it’s understandable to show our pride, yet what we accomplished is still murder.” Kiersten Hart, senior, said.
Kiersten’s viewpoint is quite valid especially since a significant majority of American’s feel the pride of taking down the leader of genocide, murder and terrorism. However, this majority feels that although the Navy Seals who completed the mission are true heroes, the better option would to have been to bring Osama to American courts and try him in a court of law. The “American Way” has been based on Due Process rights and the idea of “inalienable” or universal rights. It would have made sense, according to many Americans, to maintain this “way of life” and exploit Osama’s crimes in a judicial fashion, and fulfill the idea of “justice”.
Yet, some are proud that Osama is gone.
“Think about it, those people who witnessed their families, friends and co workers die in the twin towers and Pentagon wanted this. It doesn’t matter if people think this is a type of revenge, millions of people deserved justice. If I killed your son, daughter or husband, you would want me to suffer. [People of distinct religions] believe that even though those people who died on 9/11 may not be relatives to others, they are still connected to us. Almost as though we all live on this earth together, we are all ‘family’.” Bud Dooley, senior, said.
Something to think about: Should Americans be proud that the man who murdered millions was murdered?
I am a senior at Mac and I agree with Kiersten Hart; we should not be celerbrating his death like we are. With the US killing Osama, we may have made things worse. If you think about how America would feel about the death of an important political figure head, someone is bound to feel the same way for Osama. I am glad he is dead, but it is not long until someone else takes his place, and for all we know that person will be worse then him. I also agree with the fact that we should have tried him, not necessarily in the US, but maybe a tribunal of the world’s leaders. If he was an American and this happened we would go against the decison. He had the right to a fair trial like you or me. In doing what we did and denying him a trial, instead of just killing him in cold blood to hurt feelings, plus death is not always the best form of punishment. Sometimes sitting locked in a room with nothing but your thoughts is a good way for your actions to catch up to you.