Yes, 500 blog hits on my Geronimo post...had I known, I'd have put ads up! What tickles me to no end is that not a single person left a comment. I had a very small handful of "your (sic) a traitor/ignorant/Muslim" emails and that was it. I must admit, this leaves me curious as to the lack of comments with so many hits and the random emails. Those who emailed, why not say it here? Ah, well, you must have your reasons. *coughchickenshitcough*
So, since that last one was so all-fired popular and I'm wide awake at 5am, let's just go wild, shall we?
First off, I don't hate bin Laden. Never did, never will. In fact, I've got some admiration and respect for the man. Freaked out yet? Well, that's on you. I admire and respect anyone who feels so damn strongly about their religion, their principles, *anything, that they are willing to devote their life to and even die to protect those values. Now, try...TRY...to remove bin Laden from this equation and read what I just said again. Do you not agree? Do you not find it admirable to devote your life to and even die for your beliefs? Of course you do, even if others find you evil and want to kill you for it. What if that's the case? What if others find you evil, wrong, a threat? Are they justified in killing you, if so? What if your beliefs caused the deaths of others, even if you never actually killed them with your own hands, because they were so alien to the beliefs of those others? Would your opponents, those others (random thought: who just had a "Lost" moment?) be justified in killing you? Now, let's think about bin Laden again....substitute him for you in what I've asked up there. Is he still so evil? Was killing him still so justified? You don't have to tell me...all I ask is that you try to keep your mind open and answer yourself honestly there. Now, let's try this: Let's put Jesus in bin Laden's place in my questions up there. After all, Jesus was a religious zealot and rebel in his time and many, many lives have been lost in the battles both for and against Christianity. Now, am I equating bin Laden with Jesus? Nope, I'm not...I admit, I am giving an extreme example to drive my point home in a lot of heads. My point? Sometimes evil, as with beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. There are no absolutes. Do I think Osama bin Laden was evil? Not even remotely. Was he a rebel, an extremist? Yep. Would I have done as he did? Nope, but then again, I'm not a fan of violence in any form, be it what he orchestrated or what our own military is doing these days. Do I admire him for devoting his entire life to what he felt strongly about? All day long. You don't have to agree with someone's core values in order to admire them for their dedication to such. That's a lesson we, as Americans, often aren't taught. It's a shame, that, for without that lesson, this world will never have peace.
Now, going back to bin Laden and what I freely will admit is my defense of what he's done, I'll ask you to indulge me in another mental game, if your mind is open enough for it. Ready? Let's go. Say you and many of your family all live on the same street and have for what amounts to forever. Sure, you have your bickerings and fights, but in the end, what matters is family. You know, the whole "I can say shit about her because she's my sister but I'll be up your ass in a heartbeat if *you say shit about her because she's my sister!" thing. It's a good thing, love ruling and having one another's backs against others, isn't it? So, let's say a family from two blocks away, newly moved in compared to your family, decides they don't like how your entire family, all homes, parent. Or your religion. Or the values your family feels strongly about. Screw them, you think. Right? But what if they begin marching into your family's homes, one by one, using force, and demanding that your family do things their way? Now, let's take a moment here and look at that family and what they are saying...they genuinely believe their way is best for your family. I mean, really, they do. They just think your family is too old-school, too antiquated in its values, to know better and they want to help you advance and see it their way, since they genuinely believe their way is so much better. And they are so damn sure of this, they feel it's perfectly fine to march in your front door without invitation, use force even with injuries, to have you do it their way and then do the same with all your family-neighbors on the street. Yes, some kids may be killed in the process...some men may lose their wives and your sister? She might lose her husband and your mom may lose your dad when he tries to protect his home. Tell me the truth...how would you feel about that? In your own heart of hearts, as the saying goes, how would you feel? And what if weird Uncle Joe, the family black sheep, said "Enough. Just enough. I'm going to try to stop these people from 2 blocks away and show them how it feels!" And 9/11 happens, killing innocent people, yes, but fewer innocents than than the obnoxious neighbor two blocks away killed. Of course, they call those innocents "casualties of the war" we caused by not living as they do. I call them my brothers, sisters, uncles, Mom and Dad, my babies. Again, be honest with me...how would you feel about weird Uncle Joe now, for doing whatever he had to do to stop this? Personally, I'd be my weird Uncle Joe's biggest fan. He had the guts to try to protect our family when no one else did...go Uncle Joe! Defend us, make them stop it! In fact, I'd be inspired to help Uncle Joe. What about you?
Now comes the hard part. We, the United States of America, *are that family two blocks away. That's not up for debate...we just are. And let's replace the block full of your family and their homes with the Muslim countries. Weird Uncle Joe? Is Osama bin Laden. Ask yourself now, how do you feel about what Uncle Joe did? I still maintain it was admirable and anyone who came into our family turf, so to speak, and killed Uncle Joe? Yeah....they deserve what they get from here on out.
We went into someone else's home 2 blocks over and abandoned everything we are supposed to stand for - we shot an unarmed man whose only resistance was in failing to raise both hands when directed. Then we flipped off his religion in how we disposed of his body and I'll be damned, our family not only is okay with this, but cheers in the streets about it.
Count me out of this. I'm an American and I dearly love my country but I do not, not even a little bit, love what it has done and stands for right now. I am so ashamed for the United States of America. I'm not a bit ashamed to be American, though...I have hope for my country. I have hope that we will, one day, be a peaceful and peace-making nation with a strong defense but with a true, dare even I say true *Christian, understanding of what "defense" means. I have hope that one day, America will act as Jesus would have done.
Right now, we have no sense of that.
May 5, 2011
500 blog hits later, I'll elaborate.
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5 comments:
2 of those 500 hits were from me. I tried to comment, but couldn't figure out how to word what I wanted to ask, so I abandoned it.
Now that you've elaborated, I understand your first post better. I don't necessarily agree, but I understand. I can't say I disagree either, because I apparently am missing some of the history. The first I heard of OBL was 9/11. I had no idea that the U.S. had any prior history with him. From your post, I'm gathering that we had somehow pushed him and his people around, so he attacked in retaliation. Before now, I thought he just attacked out of nowhere.
So like I said, I can't really agree or disagree. Before reading your post, I was ok with his death, even a bit relieved, and maybe a little scared of what would happen next. So although you haven't necessarily changed my mind, you have made me think a little harder on it. Maybe I'll do some reading and then ponder on how I feel about it. We'll see.
Now, see, this just makes me so happy - thank you! I don't mind when people don't agree and I'm not out to change any minds so much as I enjoy getting people listen to a different perspective and *think about whatever it is. I love being able to get people to not just accept what we're fed in the media and realize there's always another side out there and sometimes, not always, but *sometimes, that other side will make more sense to you. So, thanks! :-)
And yes, we knew of bin Laden long before but we've gone into Islamic nations and pushed them around for a very long time. Shoot, look what we helped do to the Palestinians, taking their land from them so the nation of Israel could be formed. Look at the original Gulf War. We've got a long history of messing with Muslims, including killing them, and somehow justifying it. It's shameful, imo.
You're welcome. In the time I've "known" you, you have made me think harder on more than a few different issues. You're good at that. It's one of the things I like most about you:)
You ARE definitely good at making me think about things, too. :) I remember being so naive on 9/11, really and honestly wondering why so much of the "rest of the world" hated us. I completely agree with the thoughts along the lines of us pushing our thoughts, our beliefs, and our practices on others. It does have to do with passion and the true belief that it is the "right" way, but really, who are we to determine that. Sadly, it is seen on all scales, in many human interactions. I have to admire the commitment to one's beliefs, so I get where you're coming from there with regard to OBL. I don't agree with you entirely (I have difficulty not seeing him as "evil" in the choices and actions he took part in), but you've definitely made me think in reading these two posts.
I do agree with having huge reservations about the "cheering" over his death. I am close friends with someone who had a family member on Flight 93... her response to news of OBL's death? I would call it "reserved relief." She knows, as I hope others do, that he did not shoulder all of the blame for what happened that day. There is some feeling of relief in knowing that HE won't be directly behind future attacks, but sadness that anyone has to die over their beliefs or nationality, etc.
Ahhh, reserved relief...now that? Makes sense and I understand in her position. And thank you, most sincerely and appreciatively, for saying what you did about my post. Like I told Jeanette, just knowing someone stopped and thought, that I could help in that, makes me feel so good. :-)
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