Osama talk

All anyone wants to talk about today is Osama Bin Laden and I think I do, too.

I had gone up to bed, set the timer on the tv, and was falling asleep to Brothers & Sisters when George Stephanopoulos broke in with a special bulletin. That's the sort of thing that sets my heart pounding at any time of day. But at 10:30 on a Sunday night, I thought for sure it would be some seriously bad news.

I reached for my glasses and twisted all around to face the tv and heard that they got Osama. Killed him. Finally. After all this time.

I watched for a little bit, afraid that George would report next on some retaliatory act-- because I was still waiting for the really bad news I'm always expecting-- but he didn't and I was relieved. That's mostly all I felt.

I fell asleep before the President came on to give his speech.

But this morning I realized just how much I missed. Apparently people were crazy with excitement. They were filled with pure joy. Pure joy. I mean, we've all seen the clip of the crowd at the Mets/Phillies game chanting "USA" and the kids who flooded the streets to celebrate together, right?

Well, that's where I have a small problem.

It's the kids pouring into the streets to cheer and wave flags and climb up onto each other's shoulders and gesture that we're number one. It didn't sit right with me.

Because it looked just exactly like they were celebrating a Super Bowl win, or something. Only it's not a football game. It's not X Box.

It's war and it's serious.

Those guys were asked to do something amazingly dangerous for the benefit of their country. And they did it-- flawlessly. I'm so grateful for that.

But this isn't a game and I can't get excited that one man was put in the position of having to kill another. I can't celebrate that like it feels like the whole rest of the country is.

I don't know.

I believe strongly in the power of symbols and I'm glad he's gone. It definitely feels like a very specific chapter has closed. But it doesn't bring anyone back. And, for what it's worth, that's what I've been thinking about.