Ding Dong, The Witch Is Dead.

In light of certain VERY recent events, I don't feel bad about ending my study session in favor of a blog post.

The official announcement that Osama bin Laden is dead was made only an hour ago and already people are drinking to his death. And while usually I would be uncomfortable speaking ill of the dead, I'll make an exception this once.

I mean, yeah, we're about a decade late getting to it, but hey, the job got done.

Think about it. This is the Hitler of our generation. There's been US conflict in the Middle East since before I was born. So much of my life, and the rest of my generation's lives, have been affected by al Qaeda and bin Laden and the Gulf War and its aftermath. The First Gulf War was too early for me to remember, but I can still remember 9/11 clear as day.

I remember sitting in Mrs. Snyder's fifth-grade class and not knowing a single thing about al Qaeda or any of that. I didn't even know what the World Trade Center was. I know that our principal had sent out an email to all the teachers telling them that under no circumstances were they to turn on the news - but Mrs. Snyder did anyway, because she told us we'd want to remember this day. "This will be the history of your generation," she told us.

The towers had already fallen, but CNN was replaying the footage over and over and over. I couldn't hear what the anchors were saying over the chatter in my classroom. I probably wouldn't have understood it anyway. The boys kept laughing about it, saying things like "Burn, baby, burn!" and "Big tower fall down go boom!" but I just sat there and wanted to cry. I may not have understood terrorism, or why any of it happened, but I did know that so many people had died - and were still dying - and would keep on dying, because let's face it - there is evil in this world, and there always will be.

My mom had been in Kansas that week. I don't remember why. I think that was when my grandma was really sick. I got home and Dad was on the phone with her, assuring her that everything was alright - because all she had to keep her updated was the radio, and there were a whole bunch of false reports hitting the air. I remember we talked for a long time when she got home. I think we prayed a lot, too.

People kept throwing around words like 'War on Terror' and 'Osama bin Laden' and I didn't understand. I knew it meant war, and I didn't like that, for sure. I still don't. I think war is a terrible thing, and that human beings killing and maiming and torturing other human beings is the greatest tragedy that could ever be. But I do think that sometimes, it's necessary.

Today, (or yesterday, since it's now past midnight), on May 1st, 2011, Osama bin Laden was finally killed. One small justice. But I know it's far from over. He died exactly as he wanted to, after all - a martyr. Someone will take up his cause, and more people will die - and maybe that's just human nature, even if it is horrible. As long as people answer violence with more violence, war will never end. But today, one man's evil was brought to an end.

It's a start.