On September 11, 2001 and the time following, our nation had never been so unified. Together we mourned the deaths of hundreds of innocent people and embraced those who were directly affected by this terrible event. We watched in horror and disbelief as people half a world away burned our flag and celebrated the death of our citizens. How could such evil exist in this world?
Fast forward to the late hours of May 1, 2011. Americans are again unified. Justice has been done and the world is indeed rid of a man who killed without cause and with malice in his heart.
But watching Notre Dame students spill out onto the quads Sunday night left me with mixed emotions. I couldn't help but think back to those burning flags I saw 10 years ago. Is it right to be celebrating death in this way? Or should we once again take this opportunity to embrace the families this man affected and left with gaping holes in their hearts? Though we'd all like to think it, no death of any one man will ever erase what happened, or ever fill the shoes of lost loved ones.
This is without a doubt a time to be patriotic and a time for all of us to breathe a sigh of relief. I am in no way equating the celebrations of American citizens to the celebrations of terrorists after the 9/11 attacks. Let's not even make them remotely similar. Let's make this sigh of relief a somber one and ask, "How could such evil have existed in the world, and how could such evil still remain?"
Felipe Murguia
sophomore
Carroll Hall
May 2
