What a week it has been. Sunday night we were informed that OBL had finally been killed in a rather nasty 40 min fire fight with Navy SEALS and that ultimately he was killed in the course of that fight. Americans who heard this, I was sleeping when the president told the nation, went out into the streets to celebrate the death of this man and to basically flag wave and rejoice.
Then the story started falling apart. In fact the only thing that seems to be true in this whole story is that he is dead and even then they won't show the evidence to prove it, so many don't believe it's true. Personally I think it's true that he's dead, I just believe that it happened long before now and that his death has been put on hold for political reasons. I also believe that I don't really care. If him and his cave dwelling buddies were really the ones responsible for 9/11 then great, he's dead, and can we now move on to more important things? Such as calling it a win and bringing the troops home?
OBL can serve as an object lesson though to all of us. Here was a man that was, by all accounts, a very wealthy man, from a very powerful family in Saudi Arabia. He likely had every toy and whistle that any man could want. He was working for the US government in Afghanistan and so was likely receiving a goodly chunk of change from us as well. Something changed though.
He went from being our man, fighting the Soviets, to public enemy #1 all in a matter of moments.
We can debate as to whether or not he was actually involved or just a convinient target to point a finger at and we can debate the how why and when of his death but the one thing that can't be denied was that he went from rich and powerful to being quite dead.
Mother Teresa was just the opposite. She had nothing. No money. No power, no wealth to command and yet she took what little she had and she did some real good for the poor of India. She fed those that she could, clothed whom she could and took care of the sick. Yet in the end, humbly and just as poor as when she started her mission, she died.
Sadly, most people will remember OBL long after Mother Teresa has been forgotten because of all the evil he allegedly did and yet Mother Teresa is the one who deserves the remeberance more. His life was filled with violence and death and hers with healing and hope.
OBL dead? Good, lets move on to really note worthy people now and let him fade away into the dust of obscurity where he belongs.
Shalom,
Ignacio
No comments:
Post a Comment