Parking Lot Argument

I was in playing basketball last night, and as always there were a group of people who got into a fight on the court. They were pretty heated and while they didn't end up getting kicked out, I didn't think much of it when I left 3 hours later and one side of the perpetrators were still in heated debate out in the parking lot. But as I eavesdropped in on my way to the car, it turned out that they weren't talking all basketball. As it turns out, they were talking about Bin Laden and what they had to say had a profound effect on me.

It goes without saying that these 4 guys were obviously of Arabic descent, and while I frankly don't discriminate it is important to the conversation to realize their background. They were arguing about the death of Bin Laden and the impact that it had on them. One in the group was obviously very angry about the celebration around him and the attitude everyone on campus had about the killing. The others in the group were trying to get him to see how the death of Bin Laden was equally good for them as it was for anyone else on campus and this is where the critical quote comes in... "Ever since he did that, we've been haunted by his image, by what he did. I've been haunted by his image."

And I think that couldn't be more true. Bin Laden and others like him are key to the racial profiling that began heavily over the past decade and which has led to a whole new judgment of one more misunderstood minority within this country. Nobody should rejoice at the death of anyone, but I think we should all be glad that maybe we can use this time to find even more unity in this country and stop isolating those people who have been hated on by some among us for far too long.

Big Day

Apparently I missed out on a lot of news since last night. We were still catching up on the Royal Wedding details which Amanda recorded and never even heard the big news until today about Bin Laden. I would be remiss without inclusion of such a big event on this blog and will include 3 links for your own perusal. Firstly, quotes from sundry world leaders about the event. I find these meaningful and they help depict many countries' formal positions on the event. Second is a day in pictures of the celebrations and events marking Bin Laden's death. These pictures aren't as poignant as such a big event should dictate, but I think they still capture the feeling of the moment. Lastly is the BBC live feed. Unlike CNN it isn't duplicative in its entirety, instead trying to have many different people on the interviews, including those people who were close to Osama Bin Laden himself.

And then three of my own thoughts from this. It is good that such an abomination to world peace, human rights and mutual understanding has been removed from a position of power. I think this event spans far beyond just an American event even though the US has certainly been the focus of attention. It is also ironic that the CIA misinformation got us into a lot of this mess about a decade ago, and that the CIA got this result too. Also ironic is the fact that Obama got this "result" just as everyone was really starting to put the heat on him and his many flawed campaign processes. Now time will tell how this impacts world events, but hopefully this has weakened the influence of global terrorism.

There are some really big, defining moments in history and this day in my life as a citizen of the US stands alongside other such days as watching the Bosnia conflict on TV, hearing about 9/11 from my sister, hearing about our second invasion of Iraq and the later the discovery of Hussein when in church on Sunday, and then this on the radio this morning. I heard it, and didn't believe it and still now am having trouble grasping the vastness of the announcement. But it doesn't really change anything in my own world until we actually make progress towards fixing the problems that Bin Laden represented.