With increasing regularity, I find myself gleaning my breaking news from Twitter.
And Sunday was no exception. As is my habit, I got into my car after church and checked my phone for messages. I usually try not to pull up Twitter or Facebook at those times, because I'll end up sitting in my car laughing or pissed off about things that I read far longer than I should, and hey, that's time you don't get back.
But anyway, I broke my rule and popped up Twitter. And there it was.
Osama Bin Laden was dead.
"What???" I said aloud. "Daaamn." (Yes, I did mention just leaving church, but Christians aren't perfect any more than anyone else. But that's another topic for another blog post.)
I drove home with the radio on NPR, just trying to pick up tidbits of info. By the time I pulled into my garage, I was hearing news of the celebration gathering outside the White House and speculation over the details of Bin Laden's death.
At the time, I just couldn't believe what I was feeling - sadness, anger and dread. Sadness because people were celebrating the death of a person and anger that I felt that way - the bastard did plan the death of nearly 3,000 innocent men, women and children. Once you're grown, a decade isn't a lot of time and memories of watching the plane hit that tower are still fresh in my mind today.
I also dread the retaliation that I suspect is waiting for U.S. as a whole and Obama as an individual.
And that started the roller coaster ride.
Now, let me take a tick to share with you a little something - I hate roller coasters. They're stupid and dangerous - like football - and they don't leave you with too much to show for the ride, unless you have a weak bladder or stomach. I respect other's rights to ride them, but I take a pass at every opportunity. So the past 48 hours have sucked for me as I straddled the fence between being glad that Bin Laden is gone and deeply mourning the celebrating that just seems like another symptom of a loss of value and respect for life.
Then there are the posts from both sides of the issue (celebration/mourning) that say that Christians shouldn't celebrate death and that the Bible says that the crowd celebrated David's killing of Goliath.
Up. Down. Around. Under. Through the tunnel. I had eggs this morning and until about 20 minutes ago, I was actually feeling physically nauseated about the discourse.
Until I saw this post from another Facebook friend.
"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."
- Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Before reading this, I'd pretty much reached my saturation limit on King long ago. I begin dreading Black History Month weeks before Feb. 1 - usually about the time McDonald's cranks up its 365Black campaign and Budweiser pulls out its clip art of King to put in Ebony and Jet magazine so that blacks think they care. Again, another post for another time.
But like every true statement - spoken, written or otherwise - these words are ARE what they ARE. You can justify celebration of Bin Laden's death by saying he deserved it, and can even talk about biblical examples of similar reaction to the death of villains. But killing. Isn't. Right. Period. I won't become right just because popular opinion says it is.
Like india.arie says "You know the truth by the way it feels."
Thank goodness, this ride is over. I was more than ready to get off.
