Now that it’s has been reported that Osama Bin Laden has been killed, we must bear in mind that Bin Laden–the individual– represented ‘an ideology‘ to thousands, possibly millions of people in several nations and in the Afghan region in particular. No man is an island, the man represents the state of mind of the people for which he speaks or acts on behalf of.
Over the years of seeing the televised reports on Al-Qaeda, it was easy to see the enthusiasm of the young people shown around Osama Bin Laden. The more idealistic among us are saying that “this is an end to all the violence”. I hasten to remind the naive among us that martyrdom is a serious thing and Osama Bin Laden is now a martyr.
To some, Osama Bin Laden is a monster who is responsible for atrocities across the span of several continents. To others Osama Bin Laden is an inspiring figure who stood against imperialism and outsmarted “the beast” for years. For those of us who are peace loving American citizens, let us remember that peace starts at home.
We must continue to impress upon our fellow citizens that people are people, all worthy of the common decency and respect that we would want for ourselves. Our country is truly great…truly great in terms of the constitutional ideas in which we aspire to. BUT! This country’s hands are not clean, we live in the biggest international war mongering nation in the history of all mankind.
We have long become the ‘military industrial complex’ that President Eisenhower warned we would become, where our war machine has become a disproportionate part of our country’s budget and an unfortunately a significant part of our existence. Covert operations of deposing leaders of other countries and installing puppet regimes have been a common occurence at our hands.
Let us not forget who armed and trained Osama Bin Ladin… if you dont know, look in the mirror. Let us not forget who installed one time “friend” and later named ‘boogie man’, Manuel Noriega, when it was convenient. Let us not forget Saddam Hussein was armed by billions of U.S. taxpayers dollars to fight against Iran in the 80’s, Hussein later named ‘boogie man’, was incarcerated and hung when it was convenient.
Let us not forget that we have a long way to go to live up to our country’s great potential. Let us not forget that no man stands alone. We may have just made 10,000 more Bin Ladins by his reported assassination. His body allegedly was immediately “buried at sea”…sure…whatever.
The minds and emotions of the masses are but a marionette. Believe what you must, but let us love and enjoy an individual and collective peace, and as we digest these current reports we should do so consciously and with a mindset that recognizes the fact that we are under the universal law of ’cause and effect’. Our actions and indeed our thoughts are creative and for better or for worse they are productive. And let us not forget that we are all connected and that ‘no man is an island’. For those that have an ear…let him/her hear.
Son of Man
Clear minded and unemotional. Brilliantly written!