At our gathering time last night at Common Meeting, I asked people what their reflections were on the killing of Osama Ben Laden. I was impressed with the thoughtfulness of the responses. While people had different perspectives, a summary of the responses was that we had very mixed emotions. There was compassion for the families who lost loved ones in the terrorist attack and for those who have lost loved ones in the subsequent conflict in Iraq and Afghanistan. There was hope that for them some sense of healing might occur. Some indicated that as Christians it was difficult to applaud the death of anyone, even someone who had caused so much havoc and destruction. No one wanted to go celebrate in the streets. It was a somber group that shared.
Perhaps it was a function of our maturity that the news of this man’s destruction was not greeted with flags waving. At a certain point in life we begin to view the world as much more complex and know that no action ever “settles” a situation. It merely sets the stage for other actions, some good, some not. There were concerns expressed that this killing might lead to other terrorist attacks, a concern shared by our government.
When Bruce greeted me with the news on Monday morning for some reason my mind went to that old saying that says that when we live by an “eye for an eye’ and a “tooth for a tooth’ we end up in a world with everyone blind.
As Christians we are called by Jesus to be peacemakers and to refrain whenever possible from violence and killing. Yet through the centuries thoughtful, faithful people have wrestled with whether that is the final word, or whether there are times when we are called to resist evil to the point of taking other lives. I don’t have any platitudes one way or another to spout at this point. I do know that violence all too often only escalates violence. When I look at history, there have been times when it seemed like that was the only ethical response.
What I have thought since last night was how grateful I was for the sharing around that circle. There was honesty and trust in one another and in the safety of sacred space so people could speak what was on their hearts. Perhaps if there were more places that people could do that, there would be less violence everywhere in our world.
