Dearest boys,
I wonder what you look like. I wonder if you have another sibling when you read this in the future.
I hope you don't think your father and I are embarrassing. I hope I am not wearing leopard print stretch pants to pick you up at school. I wonder how you feel about 9/11 and Osama Bin Laden. I wonder if these events will matter to you more than just a topic on a history test.
As I watch you right now, Henry, you are toddling around with no shirt on. Your huge belly and cheeks are jiggling as you walk to the dog crate to sit with the dog.
George, you are reading "The Gardner" with Daddy wearing your Dr. Seuss pajamas. You giggle as Henry claps for you when you get a word right in your book.
Do you know how Mommy and Daddy felt the day we were told Osama Bin Laden had been brought to justice?
More than ten years later, the world hasn't changed much but our opinions have. We are focused on other things now and not so much the hatred and fear that once consumed many. I know I had given up the hope that we would ever find Osama Bin Laden. For so long, he has been the face of terrorism. For so long, we have waited to hear that he had been brought to justice. Nothing happened. Wars raged on, seemingly never ending. Presidents changed and we focused on who was born where.
Then we were told that Osama Bin Laden had been killed by Seal Team 6 in a compound in Pakistan. We were stunned. Wow. I mean, really? Is this a joke? Did it really happen? It did and how did we feel?
Your mother and father felt nothing. Absolutely nothing. Not because we don't care or that we thought he didn't need to be brought to justice because we do. We felt nothing because the idea of terrorism doesn't die with one individual. One dies and another rises up to take his/her place.
My sweet boys. We have brought you into a complicated world. There are so many things wrong with our world. There are groups still fighting for equal protection under our law. There are still babies dying of starvation. There is so much beauty, though. If there were ever a time and place that I would want to bring you into this world, it would be here and now.
So when I say we felt nothing at Osama Bin Laden's death, I mean we didn't feel the joy that others did. We will not rejoice in another human being's death. We will not respond to hate, with hate. We are glad the world is rid of this man as he deserved what was brought upon him. We move on. We stand up for what's right and we don't let the chance to do good pass us by.
I will leave it at that, my lovies. Your Mommy and Daddy will work hard to make the world a better place for you. We hope to raise you to see the injustices pf the world and to try to do something about them.
More than anything, my loves, we love you with all of our hearts. We could not have asked for two better little boys. We will work hard everyday to deserve your love.
With all the love in our hearts,
Mommy and Daddy
"I mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy. Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that."
--Martin Luther King, Jr.
I really felt like a werid-o to be sickened at our country's joy over Bin Laden's death. He was such a terrible man, and of course, killing him was what had to be done. But the images of Americans rioting joyfully through the streets made me nauseated. Thank you for this series of posts.
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