A Slice of Bacon

Last night, sitting in my sister’s house, a place that used to host a man that spent time in Afghanistan during this unending war, I got a Twitter update. And then another. And another. And all of a sudden I was switching away from my movie to CNN, a place I hardly spend time these days because it seems the news is harder and harder to watch. But this was important. Our president was going to speak near midnight on a Sunday, so it must be important. For a few minutes everyone speculated before the news broke that it was in fact the death of the most evil man in my lifetime, a guy that focused his entire being on killing innocent people because he didn’t believe in what we believed in, and he hated our way of life. 

The initial outpour was beautiful, highlighted by this clip from the Phillies-Mets game, as Americans chanted “USA!” during a pitching change. It was exactly the type of thing that happened after 9/11. 

This was supposed to be a monumental moment for the United States of America. We actually took down this bastard and even if it doesn’t do anything to the real fight against terrorism, it will at least give us something to hang on the country’s mantel. 

But of course it turned into something political. Facebook became a place for any to spew off about whatever they wanted, most of it ignorant and ill-placed, and it was ugly. Really ugly. It tainted what should have been a beautiful moment. 

Here was the biggest problem; no matter if you’re Republican, Democrat, white, black, gay, straight, a Yankees fan or a Lakers fan, this wasn’t about YOU, it was about THEM. It was a moment to congratulate our country’s efforts and our troops and the people that have died to bring this moment to us. It’s a big deal, all joking aside, but the world took to social networking to tell us what they think. 

Some highlights from my friends: 

— Obama: “Bin Laden not a Muslim Leader” … give me a freakin break. What an idiot ….

— SO PROUD TO BE A REPUBLICAN! 

— Good morning London! Great day to be a Republican, a New Yorker, and more importantly an AMERICAN!

I just don’t get all of that. This isn’t a contest. It’s just life, and our country, and a moment to simply sit back and cheer. When the Saints win the Super Bowl, do New Orleans residence sit back and say, “Thatta boy, Reggie Bush, you won it for us! Screw you Brees!”? No, they’re just happy to win, no matter how it goes down. 

But for us, as Americans, we have to make OUR point when there isn’t a point to be made. We have to show our feathers, give everyone an idea of what we’re thinking, tell them exactly how disappointed we are with the current system or how much we wish it could have been the guy that initially wanted to hunt him down. 

I know it’s crazy to think, but we are all on the same side. We’re all in this country together. We have different views and different lifestyles and different agendas and different likes, but for ONCE (and it doesn’t happen much) we could all agree on something … and we failed. 

So I’ll take the time to do it … thanks everyone that was involved in this, no matter who you are. Thank you for risking your time or your money or you life to this cause, and thanks for ridding the world of a guy that is the epitome of evil. Thank you from the bottom of our all hearts, because we sure couldn’t have done it.