Where Were You?

"Today, at my direction, the United States launched a targeted operation against that compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan. A small team of Americans carried out the operation with extraordinary courage and capability. No Americans were harmed. They took care to avoid civilian casualties. After a firefight, they killed Osama bin Laden and took custody of his body." - President Barack Obama, 05/01/11

I'll never forget where I was on September 11, 2001.  When the first plane hit the World Trade Center building, I was asleep in my house in Ithaca, NY where I was attending college.  My house mate, Juan Carlos barged into my room and told me to turn on my TV.  We watched the news in horror as the second plane hit the other tower.  We were about 5 hours away, but the NYC was where Juan's family lived, so this had an extra sense of urgency and reality to him.  For days after, we didn't know if there would be more be attacks and if the world would erupt into a war.  We did know everything would be different and I mainly remained in shock from the devastation I witnessed with all of America.  I got a lot of phone calls from family in Texas since I was closer to the tragedy, but I was such a safe distance away that there wasn't any real worry.  People I know lost love ones, but I was lucky enough to not have anyone close to me hurt. Watching the cops, firefighters and volunteers working tirelessly at ground zero really showed me how admirably people can act in a time of crisis.

I distinctly remember a conversation with my older sister Veronica about how she would be able to explain this tragedy to her two young daughters.  She was particularly sad about the children who would no longer have their parents and tried to use that context in talking to them about it. This really emotionally hurt her and her empathy showed so clearly.  Two years later when my sister passed away in a car accident, I remembered that conversation with her about the victims and the attack and the affect it would have on their families.  In a strange way it gave me insight about how she understood how hard it would now be for her two little girls having to grow up without a mother.  I imagined the comfort she wished for those families and it helped me.

Almost 10 years later, my father and I were in Austin driving home from visiting my brother's and his girlfriend's new place when I got a notification on my iPhone that the President was going to speak at 10:30pm EST.  No one knew what it was about, so we turned to the news and waited anxiously.  We speculated and thought it either had to do with Libya or a terrorist threat of some sort.  It was a Sunday night, this had to be urgent.  Then as we were nearing my home, we heard the news as it just leaked, that Osama Bin Laden was dead. It felt surreal.  I was so happy.  My dad hit his hands on the dashboard in celebration. I texted a few friends and family members and then went inside to watch President Obama's speech on TV.

Watching the crowds of people gathered and cheering outside of the White House and outside of Ground Zero really brought joy to my heart.  I never thought I would be rejoicing in the death of a person, but this was a good moment for America as he was brought to justice.  As I learn the details of how this all transpired, I'm in awe at the Navy Seals and intelligence people who pulled it off and especially at the decision making of our Commander-in-chief.  I'm sure there are countless people and countless decisions that got to this point, but we finally got him.  There would be questions about Pakistan later, the details of the hows and what happened, but at this moment, all that mattered was that we got him.

In this moment of unity and joy, there are some people already jockeying for political points, trying to attack the president of our country.  It puts a damper on the moment.  After 9/11, I stood behind a president who I not only didn't agree with, but didn't like.  His actions after, I still didn't agree with, namely going to War in Iraq with the argument that it was tied to 9/11, but it didn't change my unity with the country on what we went through.  But now, it just bothers me that others are trying to find a way to take this positive moment and try to use it to attack our president, namely on the issue of credit and who knows what else.  The more you learn about the mission, the more you see, the President is a badass.  Yeah, he isn't liberal enough for me, caters to the Right on so many issues, but I'm not using this time to vent those grievances.  It feels like people are saying, "How dare the President take credit for his decisions and actions when it included actions of many?"  I will say, those Navy Seals and intelligence people who he gave credit to, and a lot of people in the military are also badasses and I'm in awe of what they do.  I look forward to learning more about this.

I have tried to stay away from the political discussion for the most part, but I'm always ready to talk about it.  I'll take a break from that stance to say that to make rude comments doesn't make sense to me, especially in the face of points like, back in March 13, 2002, when President Bush said about Bin Laden:

"Who knows if he’s hiding in some cave or not. We haven’t heard from him in a long time. The idea of focusing on one person really indicates to me people don’t understand the scope of the mission. Terror is bigger than one person. He’s just a person who’s been marginalized. … I don’t know where he is. I really just don’t spend that much time on him, to be honest with you."


I actually agree with some of those points by Bush, but Bin Laden was a big deal, even if you argue symbolically.  Yes, terror is bigger than one person, and I understand that this won't make things safer, but a murderer was brought to justice.  Also, this shows you how actions are more important than words, results over false bravado.  The debate on who should get credit for what, the political one, just feels like sour grapes at this moment.  A real discussion about ALL the people that played a role is probably productive if it wasn't motivated with bashing people. 


I had to get that out, because some things I heard urked me and I had a lot of thoughts and feelings about this great moment.  Yes, we all have different political views, we all like an dislike different presidents and politicians.  I get that, but how about we just keep the hate held back a bit while we all celebrate.  We can go back to fighting over politics another day, but for today, I'm happy we got him.

united