Where were you?

Most people I know who were alive and cognizant at the time remember where they were when they heard President Kennedy had been assassinated.  I was a sophomore in high school, sitting in my French class when the announcement came over the speaker system.  I was never a big Kennedy fan and never understood the entire "Camelot" thing other people felt but it was a very, very sad day for America--not the least of which was putting in office the worst president in American history.  I could elaborate but this Blog post is not about Kennedy or Johnson.

Everyone I know knows where they were when the first airliner struck the first of the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in Manhattan on the morning of September 11, 2001.  I was at work when someone told my teammates and me about the crash.  We all ran to a television and watched in horror what we thought was the aftermath of a tragic accident.  We were still watching as the second plane hit the second tower.  We knew instantly it wasn't an accident and our lives and our world had changed profoundly.

Fast forward nine years and seven months:  Although it took a LOT longer than we Americans wanted and sometimes demanded, Osama bin Laden is dead.  It was late and I was getting ready for bed when my wife, Lori, called, "Come quick! "  She was watching television and had just seen the report.  We watched long enough to see the same news over and over about sixteen times while we waited for the official announcement from President Obama.  I am confident I'll remember this news as well as I remember 9-11.

Several things stuck me as I looked back at the past nine-plus years and ahead to whatever the future holds for us.

• I give our government, our military and our intelligence services a tremendous amount of credit for getting the job done.  We didn't always know of the efforts being conducted behind the scenes in secrecy but they never gave up.  In the end, their patience was rewarded with a solid result.
• I was surprised that bin Laden had been hiding in plain sight in relative luxury.  http://www.cnbc.com/id/42854159  I thought he was hiding in a cave, somewhere in the rugged mountains between Afghanistan and Pakistan.  To some extent I was disappointed in this because I'd hoped he living as miserable a life.  Oh, well--at least he's dead, now, and justice has been done.
• Although justice was done and the mastermind behind Al Qaeda is dead, unfortunately, Al Qaeda still lives.  The terrorist threat is still with America, as it is with all the countries and citizens of the West.  In this regard, bin Laden's death will not be the life-altering event that 9-11 was.
• Finally, I'm very glad bin Laden was taken out face-to-face by a US special ops team with feet on the ground, right in his luxury hiding place.  I would not feel the same level of closure and satisfaction if he'd been wiped out by a Predator drone.

SEALS ROCK!