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So Osama bin Laden is dead. Finding out was like an electric shock. I didn’t know what to do with it. This is a man who literally killed thousands his fellow human beings and unwittingly set me on my life path. I would not have learned to speak Arabic, nor would I be studying the Middle East so fervently if not for the events of September 11, 2001. I was a kid when it happened, a middle schooler with few friends, almost all of whom were Muslim, who I watched being blamed for something this man did to their country. I watched the fear he propagated spread through my country and the world like a disease. I watched my country try to come together in the wake of the attacks while ripping itself apart, infected with hate and panic. He was a national nightmare, and like a bacterium that floods the body with toxins, the world doesn’t just go back to normal with his death. Learning that he’s dead is like finding out the boogie man is real by tripping over his decaying corpse.
I wrote in the fanfic I published yesterday on Yom Hashoah about befores and afters, and the sharp, irrevocable division of time. Many of those divisions are individual, quiet, ignored by the world, but Osama bin Laden caused one that no one could ignore. He cut a hole in the world, and every moment he breathed, the hole grew wider with the pain and fear of his victims. My cousin tells me I shouldn’t rejoice in the death of anyone, but I’m rejoicing that the hole will begin to close, and his victims may find some peace. He made the world a worse place just by being alive.
Internet is back up in Huntsville, and my sister just sent us Easter videos of our nephews. She may be coming to stay with us until her house is repaired. She’s also a nurse, though, so she might hang around to help with the relief effort instead. Depends on if she can find somewhere to stay. I want to thank everyone who has donated anything at all to the tornado relief effort at all. I know it’s appreciated.
Canada just had their national elections, and the Parliament became majority conservative. Somewhere inside me is a snarky voice saying “well, that puts the kibosh on any plans to move north if the Republicans win again.” Right now, as much as I dislike this, I feel kind of happy that we Americans aren’t special horrible right-wing voting snowflakes. This is not something I should find a relief. It means you can’t get away from them.
On a completely unrelated note, whoever got me paid membership for two months, um wow, thanks, I’d love to know who you are!
Really, so many things are happening at once. I need to go watch some pretty royal wedding videos now.
I wrote in the fanfic I published yesterday on Yom Hashoah about befores and afters, and the sharp, irrevocable division of time. Many of those divisions are individual, quiet, ignored by the world, but Osama bin Laden caused one that no one could ignore. He cut a hole in the world, and every moment he breathed, the hole grew wider with the pain and fear of his victims. My cousin tells me I shouldn’t rejoice in the death of anyone, but I’m rejoicing that the hole will begin to close, and his victims may find some peace. He made the world a worse place just by being alive.
Internet is back up in Huntsville, and my sister just sent us Easter videos of our nephews. She may be coming to stay with us until her house is repaired. She’s also a nurse, though, so she might hang around to help with the relief effort instead. Depends on if she can find somewhere to stay. I want to thank everyone who has donated anything at all to the tornado relief effort at all. I know it’s appreciated.
Canada just had their national elections, and the Parliament became majority conservative. Somewhere inside me is a snarky voice saying “well, that puts the kibosh on any plans to move north if the Republicans win again.” Right now, as much as I dislike this, I feel kind of happy that we Americans aren’t special horrible right-wing voting snowflakes. This is not something I should find a relief. It means you can’t get away from them.
On a completely unrelated note, whoever got me paid membership for two months, um wow, thanks, I’d love to know who you are!
Really, so many things are happening at once. I need to go watch some pretty royal wedding videos now.
