A little bit of our humanity

Yesterday morning when I woke up I turned the TV on hoping to catch the weather and a little bit of the local news.  Instead I was greeted with breaking news - Osama Bin Laden was dead.  Not only was he dead, he was killed by our forces.  They showed people celebrating in Times Square, in front of the White House, and more locally, in Mirror Lake at Ohio State. 

All this celebrating somehow this struck me as odd.  I understand what this man means to our county.  He was the mastermind of terror and the deaths of so many, and on our own soil.  The pain, hurt, anger and fear he caused is incalculable.  And we wanted him brought to justice. 

But was this justice?  It strikes me more as revenge. If it was justice, wouldn't we wanted him to have been captured, tried, found guilty and then executed?  We did that with Sadamm Hussain.  Found him hiding like the rat he was in a hole in the ground, tried him, then as the law of his country dictates, hung him.  But this, from our president's mouth, was a kill mission not a capture mission.

Don't get me wrong, I am glad that he was found.  And ultimately, I'm glad that he is no longer walking this earth.  And I am sure our dear Lord is meting out the justice this man so richly deserves.

But in celebrating our revenge in his death, I have to wonder if we didn't lose just a little bit of our humanity.