President Obama, who through intelligence and with the cooperation of other nations, succeeded in killing the supposed mastermind behind the 9/11 attacks and head of the terrorist organization Al Qaeda. 

That, in not so many words, was the major headline news this morning and last night. I saw the breaking news after watching the royal wedding that I had recorded from last Friday. I was almost emotional, having watched two people about my age (give or take 4 years) exchange vows in front of family, friends, and billions of strangers. I watched the love between these two people who have been together about as long as I've been with my husband promise to love, honor and keep thee until death they do part. It was beautiful, hopeful. Pure, as true love is.

Then, as I figure I've got another hour for another day, I switched it off and on CNN was Ed Henry in front of the White House talking about how Osama bin Laden had been killed and could we hear the chants and cheers of the crowd that was gathering in front of the White House?

Chants of "U.S.A" and cheering. The singing of the national anthem. Cheering. Rejoicing. Taking pleasure in the death as if it were the outcome of a football game.

The man, who was at the very least the mouthpiece for the organization that has pledged jihad against my way of life and may well have been the mastermind behind the awful September attacks and numerous other attacks against my country as well as others was a monster by all accounts.

I can say I won't mourn the creature's death. I can say I feel as if a job was done. But, I can't rejoice in the death. I can't jump around chanting, cheering, singing in the streets.

To do this is to do as our enemies do. To revel in another's death is to be like our enemies. We've seen pictures for the last ten years of people dancing in the streets when American soldiers die. I can't do that. I won't be like them and dance in the streets over the death of an enemy. I can't condone that behavior, either. I can't condone, even just in words, the rejoice of another's death.

I will take the high road and think about the job that was done with solemnity and reverence for the life that was ended by the hand of another. I will pray for the soldier who fired the shot, as I will pray for all soldiers who find themselves taking the lives of others, innocent or not. It's not up to us to determine when a life ends, regardless of how that life was lived. I can't cheer the news.

I pray the end of bin Laden marks the beginning of the end of the organization that shall be nameless. I pray he was the head of the group and that the group begins to fall apart and unravel. I pray for a world that spreads peace and love instead of violence.

I also pray our nation finds a source of pride that isn't centered around violence. I think our military has a rightful place in our democracy, but for it to be our only source of pride saddens me a little. My grandfather was a soldier and he never would have said he was a hero. He just did the job he was told to do, when he was told to do it. He made the army a career, but I'm not sure it would have been his choice had he not been drafted. It's because he was drafted that he's a true hero in my mind. Because of that, I can't see today's military as hero's. They are men and women who have chosen to do the job they do. They do it well, most of them, and they should be commended for that. I respect anyone who does their job and does it well, from the man who picks up my garbage on Fridays to the woman who teaches my daughter, to the checker at the Wal-Mart who greets me at ten at night when I'm finally getting around to doing my grocery shopping. I applaud anyone who does their job and does it well. I'm grateful there are people who choose to do the jobs they do, to include our military. I just wish our nation had a source of national pride that didn't involve guns and being the bully on the block.

I won't rejoice the death. I won't saint those who fired the shots. I will say thank you, once, to those who serve, and I will look to the future with hope and do what I can to spread love, tolerance, and peace.