Unless you’ve been living in a cave unlike some people (*COUGH Osama Bin Laden COUGH*) then you know that America’s Most Wanted is dead.  

 

(Or allegedly dead. I’ve seen Wag The Dog enough to have my doubts… After all, while Uday and Qusay Hussein’s death shots were paraded around through the media like they were the new It Boys, Osama has been “buried at Sea.”  Really?  

And that sound you hear are CIA choppers coming to take me down.)

 

Conspiracy theories not withstanding when I read the news on CNN, my first reaction was to shout “America! Fuck Yeah!” (which if my facebook newsfeed is any indication is probably the least original reaction ever.  Thank you Team America for channeling a collective cosmic facebook whole.)

 

Clearly jingoism trumped originality at this point and something powerful and belligerently patriotic grabbed hold of me.  

I may have walked around the kibbutz fist pumping the air chanting USA USA USA for a few hours.   See, I like a good ending – I cheered when the alien mother ship was disemboweled in Independence Day.   I clapped when Lord Voldemort was vanquished.  And I wept tears of joy when Private Ryan at last came home to his mama.    

 

And this victory – after so many years

in which I actually wondered if the old guy kicked off from renal failure,– seemed equally satisfying.  (CUE WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS. AND …SCENE.)

Alas, this aint no Spielberg movie.   The credits will not roll against a backdrop of an American flag flapping in the breeze.  Tom Hanks won’t be doing a voice over.   

 

This is real life.           

 

And after my zeal faded, I realized three things:

 

3.  And above all, what kind of lesson am I teaching my kids when I break into a jig and sing “Ding Dong Bin Laden’s dead?”  Yes, I’m not going to miss his mix tapes.  Yes, I think he’s a despicable human being.  Yes, I hope that the families of the thousands he killed will feel that some sort of justice has been meted out.  And yes, I am  happy he’s dead.  Still, I was raised to believe that we should not rejoice at the downfall of our enemies…  And for the same reason that I’m against capital punishment, I feel that maybe I should tone down the celebration.   At least when my kids are watching.

Look.  I know the world can be a crappy place where terrible things happen.    And yet, I’m an optimist.  I believe in Tikun Olam—healing the world.  Ghandi said “Be the change you wish to see,”  and I like the spirit behind this message.  Sure, that’s easier said than done but I’m going to try.   

 

Because that’s the best I can do.

 

Although I may have ordered Team America on Amazon. Fuck Yeah.