So - Evidently Osama Bin Laden is dead. As usual, the media is dishing up heaping servings of extreme reactions. First with the folks being displayed as "true patriots - - Really? It's alright to run through the streets with an American flag, screaming, "USA, USA!" at the top of your lungs to rejoice over somebody's death? Should we all buy apple pies and Chevrolets to celebrate even more? A bad, bad man has been killed. That's good, right?
But wait - what about the schmaltz I've heard condemning the US, saying everybody needs to just forgive and forget so we can fill our hearts with love? Seriously? Do you actually believe that? What an insensitive reaction! I very much want to ask them, "Is forgiveness that easy for you? If somebody murdered your loved one could you apply that easy-schmeasy forgiveness, and then promptly walk away, forgetting it ever happened?"
I don't mean to poo-poo on the "don't-revenge-feel-great" parade or mock the hand holding "kum-ba-ya" singers - but I hope that between all the hyperbole, happy-dancing, newly hatched conspiracy theories, media jaw flapping, uber-patriotism, and uber-weirdness...folks get sick of the silly merry-go-round, vomit and get off.
Revenge can never repay an uncollectable debt like a lost life. It creates a vortex of hatred and a viscious cycle where the victim becomes the perpetrator ad nauseum. On the other hand, forgiveness is costly to the one granting it. To cheapen it by saying otherwise only suggests that the person making the comment has never had to forgive somebody for something horrible.
Today, can the rest of us (the silent majority who never have antics worth putting on TV) examine our attitudes on forgiveness and revenge? Can we vow to avoid the extremes of vengeful thinking or the cheap and cheesy comments on "fauxgiveness"? Neither is right.
If the death of Osama Bin Laden causes people to rethink their ideas of revenge, justice and the cost of forgiveness - that would be great - it would be the finest thing he ever accomplished. But please, don't make his death something it's not. It will not redeem any of the evil he did, it will not bring back anybody who has died. There will still be wars, rumors of wars, more terrorism, and more injustice.
The only man who ever spilled 10 pints of blood that meant anything significant to history or the human race was Jesus. The one who had the power to exact the greatest revenge, instead paid the costliest price for forgiveness.
The rest of it - well, it's just more blood on a planet already slick with it. I pray for peace and the truth of forgiveness to pierce our hearts and transform us.
