Osama bin Laden closer to home

Sunday night.  Phone call from a friend, who knows I don’t watch TV.  Osama bin Laden had been found and killed.  I uncovered the TV and dusted off the screen.  After finding and then messing with the remote, I figured out how to turn the set on.  And there was our President, soberly announcing that bin Laden was dead.  Al Jazeera and PBS chimed in.  CNN and MSNBC proclaimed him dead, and probably ESPN, but I have no idea how to find their channel in the arcane world of Comcast.  All I needed was Walter Cronkite for absolute verification.  He’s not?  He DID?  Oh, no! 

Since no one beat a path to my door to ask me to share my thoughts, I decided to interview myself.  In the following text, there is the interviewer (Q) and the responder (me).

Q:       Thanks for taking time to talk to us, Barbara.

me:    My pleasure.

Q:       So where were you when you heard about Osama bin Laden’s death?

me:    Hmmm.  In the kitchen, I think. No, wait, the laundry room. Maybe the garage. Or it might have been…

Q:       You weren’t watching Donald Trump on TV?

me:    Why is he on TV? 

Q:       (Sighs deeply)  Okay. Tell us your first thoughts about bin Laden’s death.

me:    For me personally, I thought it’s good that he’s dead. We were never close. I remember being surprised by photos of him over the years in print publications, because he was such a benign looking man.  Hardly the stereotypical monster that we all came to understand he truly was.  But even though he was just one among many terrorists, his death is a big deal because he is iconic.

Q:       Iconic?  That’s a kind of elitist word for the poster guy for evil, don’t you think?

me:    Sorry.  I’ll try to keep it simple.

Q:       What do you think will happen now?

me:    Two things.  I think President Obama’s enemies and wannabes will look for ways to de-legitimize the story of bin Laden’s death.

Q:       You mean, make up stuff so it looks like it didn’t really happen?

me:    Yup.

Q:       But who would…oh, never mind.  You said “two things.”

Me:    I fear that plans are in the works even as we speak to (extract vengeance on) get even with the U.S. for taking down the (megalomaniacal zealot) dude.

Q:       That’s not a very sunny outlook.

me:    These people do not traffic in sunny outlooks, cupcake! Oh, sorry. That was rude.

Q:       (Long-suffering sigh)  So now what?

me:    Not sure.  I was a ten-year resident of Eagan in 2001 when the Twin Towers came down, along with all else that followed.  On the heels of that, we were as unified as a nation as we’d ever been, post World War II.  Everywhere I went in Eagan and beyond, people were talking about the Towers.  About Pennsylvania heroes.  Commiserating.  Promising to stick together as Americans.  Republicans and Democrats came together.  People of color and people of no color.  Blue collars and white collars and plaid collars.  Golden oldies and scared little kids.  We were solid.  We were Eaganites and Minnesotans, but most of all, we were Americans.   

Q:       Are you going all preachy on me?

me:    Maybe.  But it’s true.  For a little while there, most of us were our best selves.  We were all pulling together, irrespective of our differences.  And pretty much everyone felt that!  We were community, writ large.

Q:       And your point is?

me:    Oh, you know what my point is.

Q:       You have to say it.  Otherwise, I’ll be accused of putting words in your mouth.

me:    We squandered pretty much the only good thing to come out of 9/11, which was goodwill and unity.  We’ve stood by and watched all of that get flushed down the loo over time.  And it’s been Nelly bar the door ever since.

Q:       Would you care to elaborate on that?

me:    No.

Q:       Okay then.  Any final thoughts you’d like to share?

me:    I hope with my whole heart that ridding the planet of Osama bin Laden creates enough space for human decency to thrive.

Q:       Is that a metaphor?

me:    It’s bedrock, I think.

Q:       Thanks for sharing.

me:    Any time.