Osama Killed

As the buzz went up & down the grocery checkout line like a weird game of telephone—punctuated by real cellphone calls, I overheard the news from a customer that Obama had been killed. I was stunned by everyone's relative calmness and I thought OMG—it was yet another tragic moment for this century: "Where were you when JFK was killed." I wondered why there wasn't more of an outcry. I then realized that I misheard the news. It was Osama—not Obama who was killed. I did not feel elated when I heard the news—nor did anybody else in line. It was a macabre moment in time. An anti-climax, nearly ten years after 9/11. My next thought was: what's next? I thought the more enduring question for this century might be: "Where were you when the Twin Towers fell?" and "Where were you when they announced Osama bin Laden was dead?" And where will this all end Nothing like martyrdom to fan the flames of vigilantes on both sides of the equation.