Any man's death diminishes me

Any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in Mankind  John Donne

Don’t misunderstand me. I am happy that the threat represented by Osama Bin Laden has been removed. But I am unable to celebrate his death. How do those citizens, who parade with banners and demonstrate in the streets of New York and D.C. because of his execution, differ from Muslims in the Middle East who did the very same thing on 9-11?

How can we hope that the removal of a terrorist threat will bring peace to our world when we exhibit the same kind of hatred, bigotry, and intolerance that was the excuse for 9-11? Are we making Bin Laden a martyr for the Islamic extremists to emulate? Will they try harder to accomplish his vision - destruction of the western world’s ‘War on Islam’?

I don’t pretend to understand how terrorists justify the murder of non-combatants or why Islamic extremists believe the west is out to destroy their religion and their way of life. But it may just be because out culture has been guilty of exactly that when it comes to other ethnic groups who differ from us.

Examples include the plight of Native Americans at the hands of European immigrants; the efforts of the allied nations to subdue Turkey and partition the country for the enrichment of the member nations; the effort to destroy the Jews by Hitler’s Arian Germany. Yes, I am aware of the support of some Muslims of Germany’s efforts.

If everyone would take just one step back from the brink, stop playing the blame game, and pray for peace to whatever deity they worship, the human race might survive. Does that mean that fear and hatred will ceased to exist? Unfortunately not; there will always be people who are certain that they speak for God – whatever her name may be – but the majority of right thinking human beings hopefully will outnumber the fringe element.

Pray for peace.

Live long and prosper!