Everywhere I read, from facebook to my American friends' blogs, there's either disgust over the celebrating, or unapologetic celebrating, or angst over whether it's okay to feel relieved or glad about his death. I think all of those reactions fall within the realm of "okay."* These aren't everyday occurrences, we don't have a ready shorthand of How to React.
The only thing that bothered me was the few people who seemed really intolerant of those who were celebrating.
Last week I watched an interview with Maya Angelou and she quoted the ancient playwright Terence who said: "I am a man, I consider nothing that is human alien to me." Angelou takes this to mean--we should be able to step into the shoes of any human being, no matter how alien, or monstrous. Like this exchange in Harold and Maude:
Harold - You sure have a way with people.
Maude - Well they're my species!
I think compassion is needed on all sides during this sort of thing. Compassion of course for the people of Afghanistan and Iraq who've been messed about by western powers for decades, which led to some very f***ed up situations, which contributed to 9-11. Terrorism didn't appear in a vacuum.
But I think we can take a few minutes and try to understand why or how a person could celebrate the death of someone who bombed their country and killed civilians. It wasn't my country, and I'm not celebrating, but I don't have to walk very far to put myself in those particular shoes. I have that much empathetic imagination.
Here's one of my favorite Bruce Cockburn songs: "Put It In Your Heart." At the time of 9-11 he was watching a televangelist say something horrid about gays being at fault for it. Cockburn thought "You piece of sh*t!" but then he realized that thinking of the televangelist as less than human was what Bin Laden thought of the Americans he killed, and therefore... not a helpful pattern of thinking. So then he wrote this song.
To me the song means: When you have an ugly thought, put that thought in your heart. The heart knows how to process that stuff. Probably works for conflicted thoughts too, and confusing thoughts, hard thoughts, narrow thoughts, and disgusted thoughts. Take them out of your bile for awhile (in the liver?) and let them float about in the chambers of your heart, where they have the best chance of being transformed.
As I stare into the flames
filled up with feelings I can't name
Images of life appear --
regret and anger, love and fear
Dark things drift across the screen
of mine behind whose veil are seen
love's ferocious eyes, and clear
the words come flying to my ear
Go on -- put it in your heart --
Put it in your heart
Terrible deeds done in the name
of tunnel vision and fear of change
surely are expressions of
a soul that's turned its back on love
All the sirens all the tongues
The song of air in every lung
Heaven's perfect alchemy
put me with you and you with me
Come on -- put that in your heart
Come on, put it in your heart
All the sirens all the tongues
The song of air in every lung
Heaven's perfect alchemy
Put me with you and you with me
Come on, put it in your heart
Come on, put it in your heart
_____________
* On the other hand, attacking Muslim people and businesses is the one reaction to Osama's death that is NOT okay. I do draw the line there!
6 comments:
Love this post.
Beautiful sentiment.
Although I'll be the first to admit that I have a hard time "putting it in my heart" sometimes.
Well said.
Ya I have that problem too. >:-( Easier blogged than done!
Royal wedding, Obama's birth certificate, Harper's majority,bin laden dead, tornados ... and that's just this last weeks headlines!
Wonder what's gonna happen next week?
They could at least have saved the royal wedding for last. Cheer us all up!
I dunno, I'm not sure we could have celebarted the Royal Wedding quite so thoroughly if we had the whole bin Laden hanging over us all. Because it's going to be a part of everything for a bit.
Well true. Just shows you that (a) I'm not a Royal Wedding person, and (b) I'm not American. Right now my life's been more impacted by the elections we just had, which were really wild n' crazy. Even my non-internet American girlfriend, with whom I would normally be exchanging a ton of emails with over stuff like this--she was going through personal turmoil at the same time, so that's what we talked about more. And now the Brits are going from Royal Wedding to referendum on their election system, which Canadians will be watching closely for sure. My god it's been a FULL FULL WEEK for everyone, in every way imaginable!!
Maybe we just need ice cream? (Not bacon, I'm vegan.)
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