Divermarv

“It is not worthwhile to try to keep history from repeating itself, for man’s character will always make the preventing of the repetitions impossible. “- Mark Twain

“To himself everyone is immortal; he may know that he is going to die, but he can never know that he is dead.” – Samuel Butler

“Boy, when you’re dead, they really fix you up.  I hope to hell when I do die somebody has sense enough to just dump me in the river or something.  Anything except sticking me in a goddam cemetery.  People coming and putting a bunch of flowers on your stomach on Sunday, and all that crap.  Who wants flowers when you’re dead?  Nobody. “ – J.D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye, 1945

Sunday, May 1st is a day that will live on in our minds and hearts for quite some time. But even the memory of justice being served, and the world-wide acceptance of the death of one of the greatest mass murderers in our time, will fade as the years go by. Fade to the point of a footnote in history. Please don’t misunderstand me, Osama Bin Laden’s death is a good thing, in my opinion, and the world is a better place now that he is in Davey Jones’ locker; as much for his ability to incite masses of people to violence, as it was for his personal masterminding of the deaths of thousands. That is hard to type, one person being responsible for the death of thousands! Now he’s gone, and we will play the cards dealt for in a new hand.

OBL’s death is a news flash for some, but a poignant and pivotal moment in some people’s lives. OBL was responsible for thousands of deaths, and sadly, probably because of his recruitment many more deaths in the future and this is catastrophic. Death can be good and bad, all in how we rationalize it I suppose. I have served in the military, and I support all of our armed forces men and women without hesitation. Congratulations to the members of SEAL team six who put themselves in harm’s way, and the hundreds, if not thousands, that supported them on this mission, and everything leading up to May 1^st.

I wish we as the human race could learn from history, collectively we do not, but I know that we won’t. I think Loki has cursed us to repeat our same failures over and over again. Driving today, I saw five older teenagers walking down the road, they were walking five-abreast, and cars were having to swerve around them. A car ahead of me honked at them, not unreasonable, and these teens flipped out, well flipped off anyway. Meaning they started flipping off the car, and if I could have heard them, I know they weren’t saying nice things. But honestly, if you look at this situation, this is the epitome  of human nature. We all tend to be self-centered, and feel that everything revolves around “us”. This will never change. Yeah, they were teenagers , which means they haven’t picked up their brains from the coat check yet, but still. I am very happy that OBL is no longer among the living, and I do feel that the world is a better place with him gone, but this will indeed pass, and we, all of us, will make the same mistakes again. Probably our great-great-great-grandchildren.

As you were.