Reflections for 5/2/11

"There are two ways of remembering. One is to make an excursion from the living present back into the dead past. The old sock remembers how things used to be when you and I were young, Maggie. The faraway look in his eyes is partly the beer and partly that he's really far away.  The other way is to summon the dead past back into the living present. The young widow remembers her husband and he is there beside her."(F. Buechner "Listening to Your Life" p.112-13)

I was up late watching the Phillie's game last night, when the news that Osama Bin Laden had been killed by a well executed military assault.  I won't say that I was sad to hear that he was dead.  The man was my generations face of evil.  I also will admit that hearing chants of USA at the ball game didn't do much for me either.  Yet the more I thought about it, I began to understand how this death really stirred memories for many folks.

For those who lost loved ones in the 9/11 attacks and in  the continuing "wars" that we are engaged in across the globe, there will be the reminder that this person was the primary mastermind of their loss.  And perhaps his death brought their memories into even more of focus.  Hard to imagine they are ever truly forgotten, just as this death will never bring complete closure.

For someone like me his death brings back the images and memories of that moment. It reminds me that while one individual might be dead, the causes he believed in did not die with him. 

Part of me would love to go back to the pre-9/11 America, at least the parts where I didn't feel threatened. Yet another part knows that here in the present is where I am.  What we do once the euphoria of Bin Laden's death dies down, remains to be seen.

Blessings,
Ed