Been a Long Time Comin'

Sometimes in the hustle and bustle of session, we struggle with this article. It seems that some weeks it falls right in my lap. This, my friends, was one of those weeks. I had struggled last week to piece together enough information to put together this week’s message and had a rough draft in mind. It was so so. As I got to my apartment in Oklahoma City on Sunday night and turned on the TV, I realized that one of the biggest events in U.S. history had occurred. Our military had succeeded in taking out Osama Bin Laden.

It is one of those “you know where you were when” moments. Some of us remember the day that John F. Kennedy was assassinated. I was three and cannot really say that I remember that day but I remember growing up with the news on the magazine covers about everywhere you looked. Through my life, there have been several of those moments that seem to crystallize in your memory and you can remember little details about where you were, who you were with, etc. The space shuttle disaster, the OKC bombing, just to name a few, and of course, the granddaddy of them all, the Twin Towers. I was on the treadmill at what used to be Gold’s Gym in Lawton that morning and I will never forget watching the events unfold. One of my most vivid memories is a lady who was on the treadmill next to me that I had seen several times but had never really spoken to. We all just stopped and watched in horror, not able to fully grasp what we were seeing but knowing that it was a dark moment in our nation’s history. I will never forget what she said as we stood there she said “I know people in those buildings”. She grabbed her towel and left. As that morning progressed, it got much worse and our world was forever changed.

That turn of events set off one of the largest man hunts in the history of our planet. One of the most evil beings to ever walk the earth seemed to be as elusive as a ghost. It took ten years to finally search him out and probably almost everyone in America would have been just fine with pulling out all the U.S. people and turning the desert into glass. But, that is not how we roll. We have spent a large number of U.S. lives in the search for Bin Laden and the war on terror and finally, thanks to our awesome military and the men and women who suit up everyday, public enemy number one was brought to justice. Many will beat their chests and take credit but you and I know who deserves the credit and it is our armed forces. It was interesting that he was very quickly buried at sea and I think that was probably the right decision because it keeps his grave from becoming a shrine to others who hate America. It would have been real easy to carry him through the streets but again, that would not be the right thing to do. To assume that the war on terror is over would be pure folly but to assume that the iconic leader of that war has finally been taken out and that it will, to some degree, send a message is right on.

Bin Laden, you attacked the most powerful country in the world and your buddies better be on notice. This is an awesome country and we are not going to tolerate those who attack us. May your eternity be miserable. It’s been a long time comin’. God bless America.

“Peace and justice are two sides of the same coin.” -Dwight D. Eisenhower