Death of an Enemy

I was at Mellow Mushroom tonight with my friend Nancy after work, and I looked up at the TV which said "Osama Bin Laden has been killed" in big bold white letters. The volume was not turned on, so we didn't know how or when, but I went home and saw an email from the Washington Post that said he had been killed in a CIA operation and President Obama would be announcing it tonight from the White House. I wanted to say I was glad, I wanted to feel relief. But that wasn't what I felt at all. I checked on Facebook to see what everyone was saying. There were funny posts, patriotic posts, excited posts. My uncle was the only one I saw with a status reflecting Christian views in that the death of another human being is not a joyful event. I couldn't help but express my feelings that I'm an Orthodox Christian before I'm an American, and I certainly love my country, and understand why we killed him, but I cannot rejoice. That's still one more person who will never again have the opportunity to repent, and that is a terrible thing. I'm not saying it wasn't necessary, I'm sure many innocent lives are spared now, but he's still a person made in the image of God. I've never really thought about that when I looked at him. Honestly, it just came to me now. Osama Bin Laden was made in the image of God. What a powerful realization. Until now, I never realized the true meaning of that statement. I've always thought about that statement in regards to my friends or people in need, but never have I envisioned our enemies. I'm stunned. I feel speechless. I don't know how to describe how mind-boggling that is to me. All I can say is holy crap.

I wanted to write on Facebook "May God have mercy on him." I chickened out. Instead I put "Lord have mercy." I didn't want people to think that I wished Osama wasn't dead. That's certainly not the case. I'm just sad that we live in a world where killing is necessary. Where we have made killing necessary. So I'll say it now. May God have mercy on his soul. Having finally said that, I want to clarify one thing. I don't want God to have mercy on Osama for his own sake. I want God to have mercy on him for my sake. For everyone else's sake. I can only hope that the mercy of God is so great that he could bestow it upon a man like Osama. I don't know if that's possible, only God knows, but that certainly would be spectacular for the rest of us.

I also wanted to be relieved because I wish that Bin Laden's death meant the end of the war. But I know that is not what it means. Yes, it is a victory for the US, but I know that our troops won't be coming back and retaliation will come eventually. Sooner or later there will be more fighting, and more destruction because terror will never end. This "War on Terror" will never end. Until the second coming we will always be fighting against terrorist forces, maybe not in the Middle East, maybe not the terrorist forces we know now, but terror and evil will always rear it's ugly head in our world and it's a never-ending fight.

So with all this running through my head, I really don't have any room to be happy. The taking away of a human life is always disturbing to me, no matter how "necessary" it is. All I can do is pray. Lord Have Mercy.