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| Ding Dong The Bin is Dead |
Here is another, "where were you when you heard the news" moment in history. There are precious few of these in a lifetime so it pays to remember them.
The Kennedy Assassination: I was in my first grade classroom and they let the whole school out for the rest of the day. As a seven year old kid I was kind of scared. I lived directly across the street from the school and ran home to find my mother crying in front of the TV and they showed the news feed. It is a burned in vision I can see clearly just by closing my eyes.
The Moon Landing: I was a 13-year old at summer camp. It was hot that July day. My dad was the camp director. I remember being in a crowded room with a grainy B&W television showing the first steps on the moon. It was the most surreal thing I remember seeing.
The Disco craze: didn't partake.
The Space Shuttle Challenger: I was at work in Baytown , TX and we had a small rental TV on the counter and me and one other guy there were watching the whole thing LIVE. It was unbelievably tragic. Seemed like the images and replays never ended.
9/11/01: I was getting ready for work and walked into the room where my wife was had the Today show on. I missed the first plane hitting the trade center. The whole event seemed unreal at the time...then in the background behind Katie and Matt, the second plane hit the other tower. Then shit got real bad. I think everyone at that moment sensed that we were being attacked in a new and frightful way. Then the plane hit the Pentagon. I had the TV on at work the entire day. As we all know how that day ended.
Osama Bin Laden Dead: I was watching a recorded CSI New York from last Friday which ended a little after 10PM. Once I stopped and deleted the show I was back to live TV and breaking news on CBS talking about this event. I watched until 11PM, saw the president speak, the analysts analyze, the partying in front GW's house here in Dallas, and then felt really good.
This blog will serve as my way to remember this moment. As yesterday carried this story through the simulated attack graphics, the burial at sea (as a diver this offended my wife until I explained how it was a smart move), and the inevitable conspiracy "he's not really dead" theorists. There was a news clip here in Texas showing the father of the first soldier killed in Afghanistan. He said he wished he could have pulled the trigger himself and "would have given his soul to have done so".
I am glad Osama is dead, you bet. I do not believe this to be barbaric or inhuman as a feeling. I feel sad when a wild animal has to be put down for being nothing more than the instinctual creature he is. Bin Laden was human and acted inhuman. He encouraged, no, inspired, others to join in committing inhuman acts. We put people to death in prisons for far less atrocities then he committed. He was a bad seed and bastardized a religion to achieve the necessary impetus for his acts. Although I don't the like the idea of an "Obama Got Osama" bumper sticker for 2012.
I hope they find much information on the items the US confiscated after the raid. I hope it leads to more elimination of these terrorists. Some say we are no better than them...rejoicing and chanting after killing an enemy. I say fight fire with fire. It is the only thing these misguided bands of thugs understand. They kill hundreds or thousands indiscriminately...when we do happen to kill one or a few of them it is the last resort. I for one thank the US military and CIA operatives who pulled off this latest coup. I am glad Osama Bin Laden is dead. God can judge how he feels about that down the road...I believe He is smiling.
Bye Bye Bin laden, wave to the nice sniper.
Did I miss any other "where were you moments"? If so I must not have been there. Let me know!
