It’s been an interesting couple of days, with some people feeling a sense of quiet relief at OBL’s death, some tortured by continued fear and insecurity, and some feeling the need to put on a cowboy hat and pump their fists in the air while screaming “Yeah!!!!!“

Celebrating death is ugly

Certainly, Monday was Barack Obama’s best day ever as president, one on which even Republicans were publicly slapping him on the back and high-fiving him. Obama himself had this to say:

Yupppp.

We can forgive the president for a little swagger, but what are we to make of these celebrations by the masses? In the past 24 hours, my Facebook news feed has become the place for reflection on subject of celebrating assassination, its justification, and its effect. Here’s a sampling of comments (names removed to protect me):

– Celebrating the death of anyone, no matter who, is terribly nauseating. It’s also the worst karma.

– It seems fair if its ok to praise some peoples lives (MLK, Ghandi, etc) then logically its ok to praise when some awful people die.

– I normally don’t have hate in my heart but the celebration of this mans death is justified in my eyes.

– Heavy heart kinda day. I guess I thought more of us.

– Saw this yesterday and thought you might like it… “The 10 plagues were visited upon the Egyptians because they enslaved the Jews, however, we (the Jews) do not rejoice over the Egyptians’ downfall and defeat because all people are children of God, even those who wish to destroy us. When, for the sake of our welfare, others meet with suffering and death, we mourn their loss and express sorrow over their destruction.

– Rejoicing in someone’s death is like sharing a glass of milk; you can do it but it’s kinda gross.

More than once, I’ve seen people reposting this quote, attributed to Martin Luther King:

“I mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy. Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.”–Martin Luther King, Jr.

It’s a moving sentiment. Unfortunately, it may also be a fake one. Either way, there’s no question that a sort of emotional inversion has occurred. We had been hunting Bin Laden for so long, hoping to settle our score with him, that most people were caught off guard when we finally cornered and killed him. In some primitive way, the horrible equation of justice was suddenly balanced, and relief could be felt. I’m uncomfortable with the means–I would have preferred if he were bloodlessly captured and sent to a horrible, soulless prison, like the villain in a superhero movie, rather than gunned down while hiding behind a woman–but I too feel the relief.

Va Beach SEALs took out Bin Laden

Amidst a pile of Bin Laden stories reprinted from other sources, the Pilot managed to squeeze in some local reporting, and rightly so. That precise and deadly SEAL team is our own.

How the SEALs brought him down

The PIlot pasted together an account from wire reports of the entire mission. Worth reading. Great ending.

Dominion wants rate increase

Our power company wants to increase our rates, not once, but three times, totally almost $13/month more, on average. In other news, Costco has started to offer solar home-installation kits….

Norfolk owes a lot of money

Get the details on our city’s spending spree, and what Marcus Jones plans to do about it. Best quote: “No progressive city our size can remain stagnant and expect to come out ahead.”

Bike Month is here!

The city of Norfolk has gotten behind Bike Month in a big way, sponsoring a series of biking events around the city.
11 a.m. May 7 in the Willoughby area, 5.8 miles
11 a.m. May 14 in the Attucks Theatre area, 5.8 miles
9 a.m. May 15 in the East Beach/Tarrallton area, 12.6 miles
11 a.m. May 28 in the Poplar Hall area, 3.5 miles
BikeFest will be 2 to 7 p.m. May 21 and includes a 3.5 mile Elizabeth River Trail ride.
For more, check out norfolkbikemonth.com

Hearings on bus route changes

Starting today, HRT will be holding public hearings on proposed changes to bus routes. If you’re on one of the routes that is slated for elimination, here’s your chance to be heard.

Obama owns Trump

Finally, since our President is having such a great week, I thought I’d let him (and Seth Meyers) have the last word: