You Can't Win 'em All

Ryan and I are a little behind. We're just now making our way through the "Harry Potter" movie series. After finishing "The Order of the Pheonix" on a lazy Sunday evening, I make my way up to bed and Ryan turns on the Phillies game. The game he fully expected to watch live on prime time, but decided to instead DVR and watch after I went to sleep.

Some time after 1:00AM he comes barging in the room and I expect news of a big win, a perfect game... or something equally exciting to a Phillies fan - that frankly I couldn't care less about at that hour. But instead I hear mumbles of names like "Obama" "Bin Ladin" and "death". Delirious with sleep I force myself to be alert and process what he's said. Obama just announced that Bin Ladin is dead. I'm in awe. He tells me more... my emotions sway with confusion... should we be happy? grateful? worried? We talk. He decides to watch more... I eventually go back to sleep.

Waking up, there's cheering in the streets, it's all over the news.

I question the response. Should we be celebrating a death? Are we any better then those countries who were shown to be cheering in the streets after 9/11? I'm torn. As someone who values life - someone who thinks that this - THIS LIFE - is all we get... I can't help but wonder who is capable to make the decision to take anyone's life. I'm not saying I think he should be alive - but I question who decides if he should be dead. I have these same thoughts about war, murder, and suicide in general, so the fact that my mind sways in this direction is nothing new and nothing surprising.

Sitting over lunch Ryan and I finally have a chance to really discuss the topic. We've both read the articles, we've both watched the news clips, we've both thought about it - and we both seem to be on the same page - for the most part.

However, even with all the confusion, neither of us can help but feel a little relieved. Relieved that there's one less evil in the world. Relieved that maybe this means an end to the war can be somewhere on the horizon. Relieved that - perhaps - some of those families who lost loved ones had their own sort of bitter-sweet revenge.

In other news, the Phillies lost... but hey, you can't win 'em all.