Celebrate Life, Not Death

My extended family always gets together the week after a holiday, so that all of the aunts and uncles and cousins can stay at home on Easter and Christmas and Thanksgiving. So we were together yesterday (Sunday) enjoying each other's company, eating good food, laughing about childhood stories, hunting for plastic eggs and stuffing our faces with candy. We also took time to think again of what we celebrate on Easter. Jesus, the son of God, came to earth and died, but he didn't stay dead. He was raised to life and is still alive. Death is not the end. Life triumphs.

Not an hour ago this morning I saw the newspaper headline. Osama Bin Laden Dead.

I stopped still, staring at the huge color photo of a party around the White House. What? That guy? Really? I haven't heard about him for ages, but I remember his name. No one can forget that name and that face. I had to check the Internet, listen to the president's speech, read people's comments, before it felt real.

When I was celebrating with family, enjoying life and remembering that we are free from death, thousands of miles away across the sea a man was being killed. A man who had orchestrated the murder of thousands and inspired hundreds of others to follow in his footsteps and continue the terror.

I am a pacifist and generally disapprove of war and violence of all kinds. Yet I cannot say I am sorry that this man is dead. He can no longer hatch plans, no longer inspire, no longer champion the cause of fear and destruction and twist young, impressionable minds until children are ready to do terrible things. There is still danger, of course. Bin Laden's followers will probably strike back hard and soon and we have to be ready to endure it. But one man who caused death can do so no more.

I celebrate, but I do not celebrate because a man is dead. I celebrate because more now have a chance to live. And not just live, but to live with dignity, free of fear.

Yet I also feel that Bin Laden's death is a tragedy. The entire affair is a tragedy that started decades ago, long before anyone thought of flying planes into towers. The tragedy is the hatred that grew in his heart, that hatched such a plot. The tragedy is the hatred so many others felt, hate strong enough to drive them to carry out the plan, to kill themselves just to kill others.

Where did that hatred start? When will it end? What have I done to cause it, and what can we all do to stop it?

Around the world there are thousands of young, innocent children untainted by hate, just as Osama Bin Laden once was. The forces that set to work twisting Osama's heart are still in place, still active. There are hundreds of terrorists still free, still planning attacks because of the same hate in their hearts. They still carry out his goals. Because terror was not Bin Laden's invention. It will continue until the conditions which created it cease to exist.

Bin Laden is dead, but there is still a lot of work to be done, and it cannot be done by force alone. No matter how many terrorists we kill, more can rise to take their places. The answer to lasting peace, to freedom from fear and terror, is in the heart. We have to kill hatred, but hatred thrives on gunfire and death. The only thing that can combat it is love.

So while many feel it is necessary to continue to hunt for terrorists, there is another battle which is even more important. The battle for education, for equality across gender and racial lines. The battle for jobs and rights. The battle for respect and a chance to live life with dignity. This battle turns enemies to friends and learns how to forgive.

Our battle cry ought to be for life, not death. Peace cannot be won with death. It is time not to kill more terrorists but to build more schools, more hospitals. To build bridges of understanding and friendship. To take away all of the reasons the terrorists have for fighting by showing them there is nothing to hate. To make sure that no more children can be caught and twisted by this infectious virus of the heart.

Jesus, when faced with hate, did something strange and wonderful. He did not try to fight those who were in the wrong. Instead, he lifted up those who had been wronged. He held out a hand of friendship to all who cared to take it, and taught that the best way to build a better world is by helping each other, not hating each other. He let himself be killed because that was the only way to conquer death and hate. Now He is alive because hate cannot triumph over love.

We will make no progress against terrorism, with or without Bin Laden's death, unless we release our own hatred. We should not celebrate the fact that a man is dead. Instead celebrate life, and when the party is over make sure that what you do next promotes love, not hate. Because hate got us into this mess. It can't get us out.