Joining the Fray

I woke up this morning and got on Facebook, where I was immediately met with confusion. A typo led me to believe for a moment that the president was dead—but then I scrolled through a few more status updates and finally figured out that it was Osama bin Laden who had been killed. That's what I get for not having a TV or checking news online at night.

I saw several posts from classmates, many of them either quoting or echoing Proverbs 24:17, "Do not gloat when your enemy falls; when they stumble, do not let your heart rejoice." But then I saw a post from a friend who is preparing to become a military chaplain. She expressed frustration, feeling like half the country was cheering over a dead man while her classmates were offering what she saw as sanctimonious judgments "taking the pacifist high road." What about all the people who have given their lives over the past decade or so to track down this man and his followers, terrorists who have killed thousands of people? Is there no appreciation or grace for them?

I felt a little chastised. I "take the pacifist high road" all the time, forgetting that sometimes I run the risk of spitting in the faces of soldiers and veterans, many of whom are people I love. My grandfather is an Air Force veteran, as is my boyfriend's dad. Yes, I find the cheering and singing of "We Are the Champions" a distasteful reaction to any killing; but I need to be reminded that things are more complicated than that. I can sit smugly at home and pass judgment on violence, but there are real people out there risking their lives to protect others.

I've already seen a lot of attempts at a theological response to the news of bin Laden's death, and maybe I'm biased, but I think my dad has done the best job so far. Click here to read his blog post, which acknowledges and embraces the tension between being grateful that justice has been done and understanding that a man's death grieves God, even if that man's life grieved God as well.