Thomas J. West Music

I often share a Quote Of The Day on my blog. Today's quote is extremely poignant and describes exactly how I feel about yesterday's announcement that Al Queda leader Osama Bin Laden was killed by a team of U.S. Navy Seals:

“I mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy. Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.”

–Martin Luther King, Jr

I do not deny that Bin Laden was a figure head who represented radical Islam and having closure to his story brings a certain level of closure to an emotional wound in the American psyche. We have only Bin Laden's own words on video to prove that he was directly involved in the tragic events of September 11th, 2001. Whether or not he orchestrated the attack or not, he claimed responsibility and became a rallying point for anti-American sentiment. That made him a hero to many - let's not forget that American politics has created its share of victims as well. Obviously in our country, it made him the head of the viper.

Bin Laden's death brings a sense of closure for many Americans, but in the long run, it will only serve to further polarize relations between the Christian West and the Islamic Middle East.

President Obama made his announcement last night shortly before midnight Eastern time. Many conservative opinions accused him of "taking credit for the kill." Of course he did - he was elected to be the United States Commander In Chief, and it was his call to carry out the operation. He was continuing a foreign policy that was begun by his predecessor. His decision to carry out this operation has far-reaching implications, just as President Truman's decision to drop the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki changed the course of history. These decisions are not made lightly, and anyone who accuses the President of self-important back-patting is, in my opinion, missing the point.

Many Americans rejoiced at this news, but I have not. Watching people's ignorance and hatred played out as patriotism has not been pleasant. The fact that the United States keeps finding itself in a position of having to use deadly force overseas is more than unfortunate. It is one thing to enforce a no-fly zone over Libya to protect the civil rights of citizens. It is quite another to carry out assasinations. "Dead or alive" ended up simply being "let's end this quickly."

As long as people are narrow-minded and unwilling to see the world from outside their own point of view, we will continue to have violence and strife. We continue the cycle of hatred and fear by recreating past injuries - physical, mental, and emotional, on one another. What ends the cycle is finding peace within our own lives by cultivating and nuturing our relationships with those closest to us. Our own personal impatience, selfishness, and petty power games are just as toxic to relationships as nations attacking one another.

If you are reading this, I ask you to accept my opinion on this matter for what it is - my opinion based on my experiences and beliefs. If you do or do not agree with them, and would like to share your perspective, please use my contact page to do so. Comments left on this blog post will be deleted.

As our world continues to transform through the technologies of the internet, we are becoming more and more aware of one another as a species. In becoming more aware, we are becoming more and more challenged to allow life to flow as it is without resisting that which we do not understand or relate to. Each of us is challenged like never before to find tolerance, forgiveness, and balance in our affairs, whether they be personal, family, community, state, country, or planet. Letting go of "our story" about how it all is supposed to be is the work that every one of us is now finding ourselves in. I wish all of you success in building a better life.

Back to posts about music and teaching.

Update: apparently the quotation I used in this post is a fake. MLK never uttered these words. I still like the quote anyway: http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2011/05/out-of-osamas-death-a-fake-quotation-is-born/238220/

This article (c) 2011 Thomas J. West. All content on ThomasJWestMusic dot com is licensed under a Creative Contributions Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0 License. Please contact the author before publishing on or off-line.

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