The Book of Proverbs reads, "Rejoice not when thine enemy falleth, and let not thine heart be glad when he stumbleth" (Proverbs 24:1718, King James Version). Upon reflection on Sunday night's events, very few are disappointed with Osama bin Laden's death at the hands of U.S. Navy Seals. Many have spent the past hours celebrating the mass murderer's demise. But in the flurry of joyous status updates and quipping tweets, a few stragglers lamented that Americans were rejoicing death, regardless of the victim. Although I understand the moral code of these objectors, the ethics of celebrating a human's death no matter how despicable the life are but a narrow perspective of this weekend's events.
Those that find the rowdy celebrations troubling are under the impression that Americans across the country are singularly celebrating the death of our symbolic archenemy because he is the "bad guy."
I agree that this sort of celebration would be lamentable, but the celebration is hardly as one-dimensional as critics assume. The death of a man who for many years evaded his undeniably deserved fate is inherently exciting. As President Obama announced, "Justice has been done."
But consider a hypothetical situation: Imagine Bin Laden was captured in the American operation instead of killed in a firefight. The celebrations in the United States would have been of equal magnitude. The American population's celebration was therefore not centered on Bin Laden's death but rather on the achievement of locating an international murderer. Bin Laden was at the top of the FBI's most wanted terrorist list, dead or alive. Administration officials insist that capturing him alive through surrender was a preferable but unlikely outcome of the operation. Whether dead or captured alive, American efforts ended Bin Laden's role in the war on terror, an involvement that affected the United States more than it affected any other western nation. This is an undisputable American victory.
The American population's zeal should not be mistaken as a celebration of an evil man's death. Rather, it is an event that celebrates American ideals: patriotism, justice, persistence and unity. The scenes at the White House fence were inspiring to watch. At Dartmouth, Beta Alpha Omega fraternity blitzed out an invitation to "Celebrate America," an opportunity for students to listen to an America-themed playlist and share their gratitude for freedom.
I will concede that some celebrations did forgo some insight into the meaning of Bin Laden's death. I was somewhat uncomfortable watching White House-like crowds at Ground Zero, a hallowed ground where the celebration should have been spent in solemn remembrance of all the lives that Bin Laden took.
The Beta crowd, while undeniably patriotic, could easily have been confused by some as an exploitative excuse to party and drink on a Sunday night. I look north of our borders to our more tempered Canadian friends, whose Prime Minister said the news of Bin Laden's death was received with "sober satisfaction" no pun intended to balance celebration with a remembrance for the lives lost.
But despite the flaws and the differences between celebrations, most Americans shared a sense of national unity that has eased the pain of this decade-long American struggle.
We must certainly keep things in perspective. The threat of terrorism has not disappeared, and we are still fighting enemies that adapt and continue to cause heartless destruction. But this symbolic moment in the war's history ought to be celebrated as an American triumph. As a country, we are not celebrating the death of Bin Laden as the means of his downfall, but rather the fact that a world without him is a safer world for us all.
