We’ve waited so long. Justice.
Sunday May 01st 2011, 9:58 pm
Filed under: Politics

Boy, was THIS not the post I expected to write tonight!

My brother was on the subway. He called our parents to say he was okay and they at first didn’t know why he wouldn’t be; “Turn on the TV,” Mom and Dad.

My sister-in-law had many students who lost their parents.

My cousin, not far from there, saw the first plane, thought it a terrible accident, went to the top of his building to watch, saw the second come in, and with his colleagues walked the long, long walk home.

My son saw the gaping hole in the Pentagon.

The Washington Post showed a live feed of the White House, and in view was a man in baggy, faded jeans and Cancun t-shirt checking out the sound system, talking intermittently to someone out of view. This went on for awhile till someone apparently realized they were live, at which point the picture cut out and a loud emergency-broadcast-system-type squeal substituted for the sound.

Uh, no. I switched to CNN.

A fair bit later than when the Post had guessed it might start, the President strode up to the podium and began. Waiting for it, I knitted out my nervous energy at full tilt, picturing the man who in his youth had debated trying to become a professional writer now somewhere back there behind the scenes, writing the speech he knew would reverberate through generations to come and societies throughout the world–knowing how important every word was, the consequences of a misspoken one, how solemn the occasion, how important.

The Leader of the Free World has spoken.

Well done, sir. And to our troops too: well done. And thank you.

——

Ed. to add Monday night: It is a solemn and a somber time. I just wish I had the humility of my friend Lyn S, whose instant reaction was to pray for his lost soul. And it is never right to be gleeful at the death of another.

But I do have such a profound sense of relief: at last the personal face of evil can of himself cause no more harm to any living thing.


9 Comments so far
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I have so many friends who were directly affected by 911. One worked in the towers and if he had not been late to work that day, would not be with us. He lost most of his co-workers that day. Another was one of the last who made it out. And a third is a firefighter who spent the next months in the horror of Ground Zero. He would call me to give me updates on how he was doing, and I would send the messages out to his friends, as he didn’t have the energy to contact everyone. I thought of all of them last night.

Comment by (formerly) no-blog-rachel 05.02.11 @ 5:50 am

Our granddaughter lost her husband. and her two little children lost their father, in the hunt for the terrorists, in Iraq. This is a small measure of justice for him, and all the others, whose lives were changed beginning with the events of 9-11.

Comment by Sherry in Idaho 05.02.11 @ 6:43 am

… and prayers for the safety of those still serving, especially “over there”.

I’m wearing red, white and blue today though, to celebrate!!

Comment by Channon 05.02.11 @ 6:52 am

We’ve waited a long time for this moment. bin Laden caused the death of thousands of innocent people, and this is but a small token of what terrorism deserves. Unfortunately this is not the end.

Comment by Don Meyer 05.02.11 @ 9:04 am

I was doing a crossword when my boyfriend turned from the computer and said “so I guess Obama is dead.”

WHAT WHAT WHAT!

He corrected himself in a big hurry, you can be sure. I required a rather large hug as reparation, though.

Comment by Lanafactrix 05.02.11 @ 10:11 am

It is just, but somber. I can’t cheer about this – the memories are still too fresh and the fears of what next still remain. But I do feel relief.

Comment by twinsetellen 05.02.11 @ 3:54 pm

I must agree with Don. And Chan….and twinsetellen…

Comment by Ruth 05.02.11 @ 11:32 pm

I can’t and still won’t rejoice – A soul, regardless of how badly turned and black. I don’t believe anyone has the right to kill. Two wrongs don’t make a right and such.
And, like Twinsetellen, I worry about what is to come, retaliation is their way, and worse, don’t show the corpse, don’t rejoice: instead rise above and say a prayer for those gone, unjustly.

I never wished a man’s death, but there are obituaries…you know the rest.
(((hugs)))

Comment by Knitnana 05.04.11 @ 10:23 am

Using one of his wives as a shield? The world is better off with him having met his maker and (if there’s justice in the hereafter) being sent to Satan’s lair to burn, and the people at the top of the Trade Center buildings did, ever so tragically. Sighs of relief that some evil left the planet are not wrong. Those who do not breathe some sigh of relief are blessed to not have met true evil in their lives. I sighed.

Comment by Karen L 05.26.11 @ 8:06 pm



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