Well, yesterday was a pretty crazy day if you ask me. I encountered some of the most random luck ever... and you know, the whole Bin Laden thing too. Before I get into that, I just want to share a few things. I also realized how simple my life is for certain events to make my day so awesome. First, I'm on the way to the dining hall for lunch. Really it was my breakfast, but it was at lunch time. As my roommate and I are walking down Gables Way a friend passes us and she gave us a ride to HoCo.
Then on the way back another one of our roommates passes us and gives us a ride back. Then I head over to Solarfest, meet up with a few friends and partake in some good old hippie watching, which is always entertaining. At night we're hanging out in the apartment and I see on Twitter that Obama had a huge statement coming up and through some investigative twitter searching I found a leaked report about an hour before any of the news channels made the official announcement.
So, my roommates and a few friends and I watch the news for a while, do a celebratory shotgun and I get the idea to go to the bar. I really wanted to see if campus would be active at all downtown. Three of us head out just as a bus pulls away and I manage to thumb it down in the street and they let us on, which may be my greatest accomplishment at UNH yet. At the bar we split a pitcher and a kid next to my roommate turns and asks "are any of you behind UNH blog?" (I had tweeted that we were heading to Ballards). At first we all said no, but after a minute I told him. He shook my hand and said I was his hero. It was pretty hilarious, but also felt really nice to hear that.
Anyways, the more important issue...
I just want to end this post with some thoughts on the issue of celebrating last night's news. I completely see both sides of the argument. Is it wrong to celebrate a death, doesn't that make us look like the extremists who celebrated 9/11 and American deaths? But that is not how I see it. I see it as celebrating a moment in time that America really needed. Hopefully this will be a unifying moment for America. There are a lot of problems right now, domestically and internationally, and the death of one man will not solve them. But it is definitely a historical and symbolically important moment. We are celebrating the achievement of a goal that was 10 years in the making. On September 11th around 3,000 Americans were tragically killed. Since then thousands more have fought and been killed in battle. Bin Laden's death doesn't change that, but it is now the first major step in finally ending the war. Retaliation can be expected and this war is not over. But this is a moment we will not forget, this is a moment where the United States can say that we achieved a significant accomplishment. It is for those reasons why I believe it is okay to celebrate the moment. Do not celebrate the death, but celebrate what this means for our country and freedom. UNH was basically a ghost town last night, apart from a few small fireworks. At most colleges there were huge rallies and celebrations, which would have been quite an event to witness or be apart of. But do not forget, this is not over. It will not be over soon. It is okay to celebrate, if you realize these things. Do not celebrate a death, even if it was one of the most hated and evilest humans imaginable, but celebrate what it represents. This is a symbolic moment and American needed a breath of fresh air.
Stay classy, not UMassy.
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