Yesterday was filled with mixed emotions. The news of Osama bin Laden’s assassination was shocking to everyone. In my family’s case we found ourselves having to explain America’s reaction to our sixteen year old German exchange student who has been visiting for the last month. This was his second dose of world events seen through the American news media given that Gaddafi’s son and his family had also just been killed by NATO forces .
Our student came home from school yesterday asking why people were chanting and celebrating. He was taken aback by the tone of President Obama’s speech which they watched in history class. He was shocked to see the news footage of the rowdy crowds at Ground Zero and the White House.
I did my best to help him reconcile how Americans got to where we are now but I didn’t feel I convinced him that we aren’t a vengeful country. Then this morning, while reading the Washington Post, I came across Petula Dvorak’s article in which she did an eloquent job of capturing the emotions of those we didn’t see on the news yesterday.
Thanks Petula! Your article is going home with him tomorrow:-).