A Year of Blogging: May 1, 2011

(This was originally published May 4, but Blogger had issues on May 12 and mysteriously moved it to one of my other blogs) Well my dear readers, we've made it to May. May 1 was May Day. May Day is supposedly celebrated around the world, yet I know very little about it. It is a day to celebrate spring. According to the newspaper, it is also a day to celebrate the workers. So it was fitting that it was on Sunday this year- what better way to celebrate the workers than by having a day off! Some of my friends have told me stories about May baskets- where they fill a basket with flowers and hang it on a neighbor's door. That really sounds nice. It must be very pleasant to walk outside and find a basket of flowers. We never did that. I think it is a nice thing to do though, a very nice way to celebrate spring. Sometimes, I wait a while before blogging. The day doesn't provide a lot of inspiration for the creative juices. And sometimes, when I wait, I have something else to blog about. That's what happened Sunday. I couldn't think of anything to say about May Day, and found the alternatives of Loyalty Day, Mother Goose Day, and Save the Rhino Day equally uninspiring. Then, Sunday night, I was unwinding from the weekend, preparing myself mentally for the week ahead. I had already shut down the computer, and was watching one of my favorite shows (Brothers & Sisters), when the network broke in with a 'special news alert'. I learned as a child that this is usually something big. Sunday night was no exception. We quickly learned the reason for the interruption. Osama bin Laden, possibly the man hated most by Americans, had been killed in a special operation. The news was incredible. And seemed unbelievable. We waited 45 minutes for the President to come on (I was incredibly annoyed at ABC- they could have waited 15 minutes and let us finish watching Brothers & Sisters before the talking heads came on). He came on and in a short speech confirmed what the talking heads had already told us. The man behind so many acts of violence against the US was dead. For some reason, I thought back a few years. The 1998 bombings on US Embassies occurred just before my wedding. I remember hearing it on the news the day before and day of my wedding. After the brief honeymoon, shortly after we were back in our apartment in Indiana, I had a nightmare about Osama bin Laden (the bombing of the embassies is the first I remember hearing about him, and about al-Qaeda). I don't remember the dream, but I remember it was horrible. I woke up frantic, and when I told my new husband about the dream, he laughed at me. He told me bin Laden was on the other side of the world, and couldn't possibly hurt me. I thought of that moment on 9/11 and I thought of it again the other night. I don't know if the dream was a premonition, but I wasn't crazy to fear him. Shortly after the announcement Sunday night, the news showed crowds of people at Ground Zero, in front of the White House, and all over the country celebrating. They were waving American flags, singing and chanting. This actually bothered me, because I know to our enemies, the celebrations were like waving a red flag in front of an angry bull. We are not in the clear yet, we may never be. No war has a clear-cut ending, certainly not the war on terror. Even after the bombs were dropped on Japan in WWII, or the papers were signed at Appomattox in the Civil War; the hard feelings remained for years. The losing sides struggled for sometimes generations. We must remain vigilant, and not get too cocky in our celebration. There will always be people wishing to do harm to Americans; those who so strongly oppose what America stands for that they will do anything to wipe us from the map. Really, this is not new. Remember, when America was founded, it was thought to be an 'experiment in democracy'. England watched the Civil War with satisfaction, certain that our experiment was self-destructing. We are, of course, a stronger nation now, but there always have been and always will be those who do not like us. Sunday night it felt good to be an American. I think every American was glowing red, white, and blue. We all felt ourselves echoing Toby Keith:

"Hey Uncle Sam put your name on the top of his list and the Statue of Liberty started shaking her fist. and the Eagle will fly, man, it's gonna be hell when you hear Mother Freedom start ringing her bell. And it'll feel like the whole wide world is rainin' down on you Brought to you courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue" -Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue (Angry American) by Toby Keith

It was one more time that I found myself thankful for our armed forces. Thanks to them, we all slept more soundly Sunday night.