Sunday morning, May 1st, 2009, morning news channels flooded us with information about one of the most significant moments in US history: the death of Osama Bin Laden. Ever since his attack on the world trade centers, victims of 9/11 sought justice for themselves and their country. We had searched for 10 years to find this murderer, believing that he was well hidden in Afghani Mountains living among roaches in caves, only to find him in the lap of luxury in the capital city of Pakistan. After terrorizing the hearts and minds of Americans for 10 years, this man was taken down in his own home with no idea what was coming.

When I first heard the news, my reaction was: Ha, I am glad this Royal Wedding craze is finally over. However, as the news really started to sink in, I began to wonder what would happen to the world now.
I was 6 years old when I witnessed the 9/11 tragedy as well as my peers. Growing up, all we ever heard about Bin Laden and Al Qaeda was the pain and devastation they caused and that our government was determined to capture him. But, when it happened, I’m not sure what we thought would happen once he was dead. What was the bigger picture?
Would we all join hands and sing kumbaya? Was Pakistan and countries under Taliban in the Middle East celebrating silently as they stepped closer to freedom? Would Al Qaeda perish since we have cut off the head of the snake? Are they planning to attack us again? Aside from astonishment, pride, and closure to the families of 9/11 victims and the current nationalism in the USA, the rest of the world seems silent.

Pakistan is embarrassed and no response or comment comes from Middle Eastern leaders (not that I expect it or that they have anything to do with it), and not many countries seem concerned. Then I realized that this was America’s accomplishment and success. We had, in a humane way, achieved our revenge and brought justice to the act of terrorism Osama had planned out ten years ago.

Newspapers added new points of view that I had never even though of: was it just to kill Bin Laden? Some articles argued whether or not he was armed at the time and therefore was it murder or reasonable to kill him on the spot. Other articles criticized USA torture techniques on captured Al Qaeda members because water boarding was un-American and overall, inefficient. However, the articles that lighted up amongst the others in all American newspapers were reports of students gathering to remember and honor the victims of 9/11 and shop keepers selling more flags in 2 days than they had all year.
Whether or not the death of Bin Laden had a global effect is irrelevant for everyday Americans (though I hardly believe that it didn’t). The national effect that it created, giving us hope and solace and unity, is what we should look into. For a moment on Sunday, we didn’t think of Pakistan or Afghanistan. We thought about us because as every American from New Jersey to California read that news headline or turned their heads as they heard the anchorman, they all felt the same thing: pride for the American nation. That was the bigger picture.