"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.Even personally I feel like I focus so much on hate and anger, but this quote really captured what I and many others in this nation can work on. Of course it's unrealistic to think that the world can exist without violence, but it's similar to how many people want to be perfect; they know it's impossible, but it's something they still work on. No, I'm not a sap constantly preaching world peace and "save the whales," but the death of one person should not be celebrated with fireworks, especially when dozens, possible hundreds of other leaders are still dedicated to continuing his cause. End of story.
Monday, May 2, 2011
Osama been wha?!
This isn't breaking news, but it was announced yesterday that terrorist Osama bin Laden has finally been killed. That's great. A man like that should not be allowed to continue his evil actions. However, and this is a big however, I'm very disappointed with how it was treated in the press, but more with its treatment in online social media. I don't think the phrase "God bless America" should ever be paired with "we killed Osama bin Laden" even if he was one of the most evil people on this earth. It made me sick to think that so many people rejoiced in the success of our nation because we killed someone. I hadn't been able to really express what I thought on this matter until this quote was posted on multiple Facebook statuses:
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Yeah...so MLK never actually said the first part of that quote.
(http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2011/05/anatomy-of-a-fake-quotation/238257/)
The thing with all the celebrating is this though:
1) We never get to "take to the streets" for anything - there's really nothing else that we could possibly celebrate in this way, and it's our moment to do so after seeing all these other countries (Egypt, etc.) have their own celebration in their accomplishments.
2) Also, most of the celebrations I've seen have been taking place on the East Coast, and obviously the tragedy is closer to home for people there, so I think there is really a deeper, more personal connection to this event than we might have out here in the West.
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