3 items of interest?

* In re the partying that went off after Osama's death was announced, this New York Times article does a great job of articulating it--a sort of generation gap of those growing up in the shadow of 9-11. It's a short read and perfectly echoes comments I read elsewhere on the net, as well as the reaction of one young American man I ran into that day.

In the world of the so-called millennial generation, said Neil Howe, a writer and historian who is often credited with defining that term for the generation, “Evil is evil, good is good. There are no antiheroes, there is no gray area. This is a Harry Potter vignette, and Voldemort is dead.” 

“In a Harry Potter world,” he said, “their mission is to save the world for the rest of society. This is their taking pride in what their generation is able to do.” 

* Though it's lovely, Martin Luther King Jr did not say : "I mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy." See here.
 

* As I know there's a lot of witchliness amongst the Betties (as there is amongst my cats), as well as love of vampires and The Mysterious, you might like to know that the Musical Queen of Mystical Stevie Nicks has released a new album. It's not at all new sounding or cutting edge, but very true to her Old Self, and a good album in that sense. If you've ever been a Nickling in the past, you might like it.

Nothing human is alien to me... not even dancing on the White House lawn

I spent Sunday evening with my closest friends, and then came home to ant battles, and rejoicing over Obama's roasting of Trump, and only late did I learn about Osama.

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


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* 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!