LIFE...Thoughts about today 5-3-2011

These are just ideas, opinions and thoughts that I have chosen to express out loud.  I feel that it is okay to ask, wonder and ponder about society and our motives and actions.

Today is a strange day in our history.  On 9-11-2001, Osama Bin Laden instigated and followed thru with the worst terrorist attack on American soil, and today the US has reported that he has been shot and killed.  I am in agreement that the act needed to be done and that he needed to be stopped.  I am upset with how Americans are rejoicing of his death.  I think that for those who lost loved ones on 9/11 and those that have fought in the war, finally have a sense of closure for their families and a hope that their loved ones can come home soon.  This is a complicated social dilemma.  Who has the right to celebrate a death and who does not? Does anyone have the right?

We have been outraged in the past week by the Libyans and Syrians celebratory media circus at the death and destruction that they have shown to their enemies, and yet we have done the same.  Hypocrisy is not a becoming trait of any nation.

He was an evil man with his actions and army but in his mind he was defending his own truth.  Just as we are defending ours.  Is it good or evil? Is is right or wrong?  I just don't know other than I do know that the way we have celebrated makes me wonder at how low a society will stoop when a victory is on our side.  Portraying the Statue of Liberty with a bloodied head of bin Laden does not sit right with me, no matter how much we hate this person some things are uncalled for.

When we decry an act and then emulate it, what does that say about our ethics and integrity, our state of mind?

Is it impossible for man to truly turn the other cheek when a world is watching?

Is God to blame? After all, we are led to believe that he has created us, them and all of this world.

I just read and listened to a recap of Voltaire's life and works.  I loved it.  His thoughts and opinions on religion hit closely to my own belief system.  I am drawn to his comments about the bible being a story and filled with contradictions.  Is he right?  I don't know.

I think if you don't stand for a Christian view then you will not be so easily called a hypocrite.  It is once you say "thou shalt not kill" and then glorify in the killing that you lose the right to stand as a voice for your belief.  I hear there is no "grey" area, just black and white beliefs.  I think that it is all grey, especially when you add the word "but" after your first comment.   I feel this way because it is ALL based on YOUR own truth, understanding and interpretation.

Therefore we should not judge and rejoice in the downfall of another's truth, because some day we will be in a position to rectify that with our God.

There are strands of moral righteousness that should be upheld in all sects and groups of this life.  It's just common sense, and maybe that is the problem, there are some that don't have common sense.

People should be grateful that we can learn from our past and move forward, that his tyranny has come to an end.  Let's try to prevent another person from gaining so much power with the intent to harm others.  Not sing that he is dead, to the point of looking ridiculous, hypocritical and unworthy of the greatness that this country has obtained.

He died in his beliefs and we killed him in ours.  Who is right and who is wrong?  Does someone always have to triumph to succeed?  Is life about winning and losing?

I don't want to sound un-American in my views, but I do not want to celebrate the killing as though it was our only saving grace.  Evil will still continue to exist.  It does not bring back those that we have lost.  An eye for an eye is not justice.

We have opened the front door for the world to say "see, you are no better than us."

Our world is one of extreme feelings that must be constantly kept in check or we will be seen as the same for which we vehemently want to deny any resemblance too.

Humanity is a rainbow of all the colors that we cannot escape from even if we try.  After a fierce storm it will always  be there to remind us of how beautiful it is as a whole, but the individual colors stand for characteristics, aura's, personality traits, etc...that can be hard, coarse and bitter at times.

People are the same, we are of different colors, beliefs and truths.  Together we can be a beautiful sight, an amazing force.  Individually we can be too blunt, too victorious and simply too much.

By rejoicing in his killing we are glorifying the hatred and defeat that he felt towards many.  We should learn and figure out how to move forward with love and peace.

Peace is a strange word.  Many people feel peace in their act, while at war; peace of believing while being persecuted and the peace of seeing while being blinded by ones own beliefs.

Peace is in the eye of the beholder, as is war.

Must the two always exist together?  Is it and will it always determine mankind and where we stand on so many issues?

  Remember---these are just thoughts...I am just writing out loud...thinking out loud.  My opinion is just that: an opinion.  I am not writing these thoughts to cause harm, hurt or anger.  I feel it is okay to write, express and ask.