Response to Osama

                I was reflecting after class about the topic that was brought up the other day on reactions to Osama’s death. It was actually pretty funny because we (a few friends and I) had our reactions recorded. At the time my friend was singing yet another classy “Kesha” song and we figured it was too good not to get the camera out. Anyway, my friend came in during the video and announced plainly “Osama’s dead”. That was it, singing went away and we froze for a moment before all doing some sort of cheer. I re-watched that moment, and have to admit it was pretty ridiculous to see. Now I want to ask the question, why did we all cheer?

                Was it just because we thought that was the correct response or were we really “happy” about his death? I thought about that when we talked about the concept in class and I think the cause of my cheering was due to the concept we “America”, accomplished a long run mission. After 9/11, finding and killing Osama seemed like the necessity in order to show terrorist actions like these will not be tolerated. After it took years to find this leader, it seemed like the America was less “invincible” than what was falsely assumed. This death of Osama showed the American people that we will carry out our missions like finding the Al Qaeda leader. It was a small victory, and a message to the world, and to those who lost due to the 9/11 events. Will it make a large change in the future? What does it mean for terrorism? No one can really know, but the small victory in my mind was enough to have thought about and even a cheer.