Reflecting on the events of May 1

A thought for the end of the season of Easter.

I have been trying to make sense of my feelings in the aftermath of the death of Osama Bin Laden early this month. I’m sure for many of us, the news of Bin Laden’s death brought up a lot of different emotions. I stayed up late that Sunday night waiting for the President’s statement, for I have tremendous respect for our troops, for the intelligence and military forces that risked their lives, carried out a successful and important mission on behalf of our country and who achieved a goal set out by three Presidents and by Congress. As I watched the President’s speech and the news, I instinctively swelled up with feelings of pride and victory, a sense of my heart racing fast like I was going up a roller coaster.

Watching the news transported me back to the morning of September 11, 2001 when I had just finished a Bible study in the basement of the U.S. Capitol around 9:00am and was told of the planes hitting the towers. I returned to my office in the Hart Senate Office Building and can remember a half hour later the announcement that the Capitol was a potential target of another plane and our running away from Capitol Hill to seek safety. It all brought back memories of good friends going to war, some still overseas, in response to the attack.

Some of you have been sent overseas or cared or prayed for those who were. I can only imagine the feelings this week of those who lost loved ones on 9/11, who have been yearning for justice ever sense and who found it last Sunday. Some of you may have lost something precious at the Pentagon or elsewhere that day. All my memories came back to me last Sunday and I’m sure for you too.

Then I watched the pictures of the crowds of Americans celebrating Bin Laden’s death in New York and outside the White House. I read about Maurice Harary, who put up a website this week dedicated to selling T-shirts that, quote, “celebrate the death of Osama Bin Laden” and he made $120,000 in the first 48 hours selling the shirts. And I felt uncomfortable. I know there is a generational aspect here for many young people who celebrated have not known life without the specter of Bin Laden. But I was trying to make sense of my discomfort and mixed feelings.

On a practical level, we live in or near a targeted area and these actions have great potential to make Americans safer in the long run. I am thankful for that. There are obvious advantages to Bin Laden’s departure and I am glad we don’t have to face that portion of the terrorist threat.

On a theological level, I believe that evil exists in the world and that the Biblical witness takes sin very seriously. I have studied the revered German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer who attempted to assassinate Adolf Hitler and was ultimately killed for it.

I followed the debate in the New York Times that week. Jonathan Haidt’s post argued that it’s alright to celebrate. I read Benedict Carey’s article about the social science and psychological research that reveals a natural human instinct and appetite for revenge that grows when a society perceives a serious crime and a continued threat. Yet Jesus wasn’t all that keen on revenge. His teachings about how we confront our enemies move us in a different direction.

What does it say about the presence of evil in the world that such a mission is necessary? I think its one thing to give thanks that someone who caused so much harm won’t be able to do so again, but I am uncomfortable with the scenes of celebrating. It wasn’t just that it felt a bit like gloating or that celebrating the death of a Muslim could inflame anti-American feelings, or that new warnings reminded me that the terrorist threat doesn’t end with one man, I felt uncomfortable watching Americans, many of them Christians, celebrating death. At this time of year of all times.

The season of Easter is a celebration of the victory of life. It’s a celebration that God brought life out of death. It’s a celebration that the power of death does not contain us. The death does not win. That God’s love knows no bounds. I have a hard time celebrating death, no matter how great the sin, because at Easter Jesus overcame sin, ultimately, with life.

And so if the events earlier this month brought out of variety of different emotions for you, you are not alone. Intense experiences tend to do that. Take some time to think through the feelings you have experienced.