random thoughts

I do not want this post to turn political but I still feel like I can't not write about the death of Osama Bin Laden .... and in Argentina I'm definitely living it in an interesting perspective.

First off I want to thank the gods of technology (seriously?) for Twitter. I was about to go to sleep and before heading upstairs to bed I checked my emails and Twitter (who knows what 140-character message I had to read before slumber) - it was there that I saw the first blurbs about President Obama's forthcoming speech. We decided to stay up to see what it was about - I love MSNBC live streaming. It saved the day - and managed to follow all of the updates.

This was important to me because while I wasn't directly affected (no friend or family member of mine lost life on September 11) there is no way I will be able to erase those images, those terrifying snapshots that are seared into my memory forever. The goal to seek out and find Bin Laden had eventually evolved into something intangible ... So many years had passed that I really wondered if there would ever be a conclusion, a way to put the story to rest.

Finally that day has come.

I haven't been running around town with pots and pans, banging drums and celebrating his demise. Of course I was happy and cheering for my country as I watched the President give his moving speech late Sunday night. I couldn't avoid that - As a citizen of the US and someone who takes pride in her country, yes that was part of my initial response.

Many people, both here in Argentina as well as in the US (and around the world), have been decrying these "celebrations," calling the revelers everything from disrespectful (which is fair) to "asshole retards" (rough translation from one of my Argentine friends' wall posts). Even fake MLK Jr. quotations have been disseminated all over the internet to battle this celebratory patriotism that so many find out of line.

I'm not saying that this event gives American citizens (or anyone, for that matter) carte blanche to run around like banshees and leave all remnants of taste or respect behind. But I'm having a very hard time listening to people from other countries criticize how these people are responding.

They weren't there nearly 10 years ago when thousands of American citizens were killed, for no apparent reason, with no warning, with no mercy. How can they sit and judge us for something that they have never experienced? I know the entire world felt and feels the consequences of 9/11. But for someone who lives more than 5,000 miles away, who wasn't in NYC on that sunny morning, or watching the Pentagon burn across the river from their high school's computer lab ... I have a hard time standing idly by and letting them criticize and scorn us for releasing emotions that they have never had to suffer.

When Nestor Kirchner died 6 months ago, many people did "celebrate" his death with jubilant Facebook posts, snarky conversations among friends, and general sighs of relief. While I myself felt a little relieved as well, I wasn't going to shout from the rooftops as if it were Christmas morning. That's just not my style. Either way, my point is that while most rational human beings - American citizens included - would tell you that it's never "OK" to celebrate the loss of another human's life, when that human is responsible for the worst terrorist attack on your country in its history, when that human has been the reason for decade-long war in which tens of thousands of young soldiers' lives have been lost, when that human has expressed nothing short of pure hatred and evil sentiment for your country, when that human is what you associate with the malicious nature of terrorism in the 21st century ....

I think it's a little more than understandable that these reactions are almost knee-jerk.

As I said ... I'm not necessarily condoning the over the top festivities that have been happening all over the US this week in response to Osama Bin Laden's death. But what I do wish would happen is for those from other countries (or maybe just Argentina where I live, and where one minute there's nothing cooler than going to the US, hitting up the outlets in Miami ... and the next you're supposed to act like the Yanqui credo is nothing short of idiotic and imperialistic) would be a little less criticism and a little more understanding. It's so easy to rely on those intangibles when you're lifetimes away from the epicenter of tragedy. Sadly enough, for the families and friends of the victims and all affected by September 11 that's just not a possibility.