I don’t know about you, but my kid asks questions. He also watches TV, listens to the radio when we are in the car (if it’s my car it’s talk radio), and, though when addressing him directly you’d think you were talking to a brick wall, he probably hears every little thing his mother and I talk about. With that in mind, and with the play that bin Laden’s death will get over the next week or so, how do you rationalize the killing of another human being to a child. I have my ideas. I just wanted to pose the question.
This question isn’t asked because I’m looking for justification for killing the guy. I’m glad the world is rid of him, and I’m proud of the service members that successfully executed their mission with no casualties of their own. It’s just food for thought.
I’ll close this with a couple versions of a quote (one improperly attributed to Mark Twain and the real version from Clarence Darrow).
“I’ve never wished a man dead, but I have read some obituaries with great pleasure.” – Mark Twain (never actually said this)
“Every instinct that is found in any man is in all men. The strength of the emotion may not be so overpowering, the barriers against possession not so insurmountable, the urge to accomplish the desire less keen. With some, inhibitions and urges may be neutralized by other tendencies. But with every being the primal emotions are there. All men have an emotion to kill; when they strongly dislike some one they involuntarily wish he was dead. I have never killed any one, but I have read some obituary notices with great satisfaction.” – Clarence Darrow