And There Was Dancing In The Streets

On May 2, 2011, the world heard the news for which the United States had waited almost 10 years. Osama bin Laden had been located and killed.

The face of evil was no more (quite literally if you believe the reports).

It was a little hard to believe at first. It's been so long and the media so often get it wrong. And I had not heard the President speak, only received the news the following morning.

But the celebrations had started. In my head I couldn't quit singing "Ding Dong the Witch is Dead!" from the "Wizard of Oz". There were pictures of people in the streets with noisemakers and music. It looked very much like New Year's Eve in Times Square.

And as much as I don't begrudge anyone celebrating this in their own way, I kept coming back to something that Coach Lou Holtz used to tell his players - (paraphrased) if you score a touchdown, just put the ball down in the endzone or hand it to the referee. Act like you've been there before, even if you haven't.

I wish we could have approached the event like an item on our to do list.
Wash the car Check
Walk the dog Check
Pick up milk Check
Kill bin Laden Check
Soccer practice Check

Basically, the Navy Seals just did their job. For all we know, it simply was an item on their overall to do list. And they got it done.

I think it bothers me some because of the way we always react whenever one of our innocent soldiers or a journalist is captured and sometimes killed. The people in support of that behavior are firing guns into the air and dancing for joy and we can't believe that other human beings would act that way.

I am in NO WAY comparing the mastermind, orchestrator of the worst attack on American soil to our innocent soldiers, do not misunderstand me for an instant. I had family in Washington DC on that morning who saw the Pentagon and in New York City in the midst the chaos. Billy and I had our picture made less than two weeks before standing in the courtyard of Towers I and II in front of the gold globe and the sky that morning was just as blue as it was when those planes flew into the Towers and we could have been there. So no, I am not comparing the evil of that one human being to anything good. I am glad the SOB was DOA and I say good riddance to bad rubbish, but still...

I wish that, collectively, we could have just handed the ball to the ref and moved on.

Because there will be others. They are already plotting. And for all I know we fueled their desire to wreak even more havoc. We may get a short respite. We have done some serious damage to the Al-Queda organization. But it is by no means over. We might have scored a touchdown, but there is still time on the clock.