O-Trap;757831 wrote:I have to admit that though I will most certainly be in the minority, I don't "rejoice" at his death, be he Satan incarnate.
His actions were vile on a level few human beings have reached, but it is his actions that I find myself hating. To a large degree, I pity the man who has a worldview that justifies such atrocity in his own mind.
It's an easy thing for a patriotic American to hate a man who shows hate toward America, and while I feel like I can sympathize, I'm not sure I can justify it, at least in my own mind.
Whether or not Dr. King said these words, I find something wise in them. bin Laden has become another soul destined to go on in whatever hell may exist, and make no mistake, it is nothing short of his just dessert.
However, I am of the conviction that it would be my just dessert as well, be it not for the existence of divine mercy. Our reaction is to see ourselves as better ... incapable of such atrocities, but I'd be willing to bet that if we were given over to means, motive, and conviction the way he was, we may indeed be not all that dissimilar.
This life, while fragile, is small. If eternity exists for the human soul, I would suggest that said eternity is infinitely more important than the life we live in a carcass. As such, while ending his natural life may have been better for the rest of us who are still living our own (and I contend that it is), I feel shallow if I don't consider the eternal consequences with sobriety instead of vengeance or ill will.
I suppose I'm being a wet blanket on what would otherwise make for a good lynch mob mentality (except that the monster is already dead), so I won't say anything else on the subject. It's just that the more I think about it, the less I see his death as a victory, and the more I just see his life as one big tragedy.
These are my feelings as well. Couldn't have put it better myself.