I was up late last night reading, but since it was one of those old fashioned books, I was awoken this morning by my wife. “Did you hear?”
I was still groggy with sleep and I thought she said Obama was dead, and I was like, “What?”
Honestly, I think Osama bin Laden’s death is more shocking. Like most Americans, I assumed he was either dead or safely sheltered in some cave, tucked away in a remote region of Pakistan. I had largely stopped thinking about bin Laden.
I lived my entire adult life in the supposed “post-9/11” world. I was old enough to understand there was no need for the changes. I understood that terrorism didn’t change us. We changed ourselves, and we can stop letting it bother us whenever we want and go back to being unmolested and fully clothed when flying.
I wish the death of bin Laden would have the cathartic effect of letting people let go of their fear, but we’ve been sold on the bullshit of the Bush Administration that Al Qaeda is bigger than bin Laden and that catching him is unimportant. The truth is, that is just bullshit made up justify Bush’s failure. It is a big deal to catch the guy who does something to you, and we could decide to let this be a signal that we should end our meddling in the Middle East.
My generation’s Hitler is dead, and while the young chant “USA” in a creepy, sick sort of way, I hope this provides the sort of closure necessary to usher in a post-post-9/11 atmosphere of focusing on problems at home, not phantoms overseas.
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