On Sunday evening, I awoke from a nap to a raucous crowd outside my window and learned that Osama bin Laden had been killed by Navy SEALs in Pakistan. I quickly threw on a pair of pants and dashed outside. I was greeted by a crowd of my peers singing, chanting and celebrating this most auspicious news. As I walked down Sheridan singing “The Star-Spangled Banner,” the events really sank in.

September 11, 2001, shaped my entire generation’s world view. My father had boarded a plane for a business trip that morning. The fear that my mother felt while my father was unaccounted for is bin Laden’s most potent weapon. While nobody in my family perished on September 11th, this vicious attack affected thousands of Americans, most acutely, New Yorkers. I remember going to synagogue and seeing more than half my congregation stand when my rabbi asked if they or someone they knew was affected by the tragedy. Nearly every New Yorker has a personal story about the World Trade Center. I remember visiting the towers as a child, and my dad remembers visiting his father’s office in the north tower as a young man.

Over the past few days, the rising tide of sanctimonious moralizing that likens the celebration of this event to the terrorists themselves has frustrated me. Individuals uncomfortable celebrating the positive implications of a mass murderer’s death should avoid casting aspersions on others. There is no doubt that everyone would have preferred that bin Laden be brought to trial to answer directly to his victims, but comparing this celebration to those that occurred across the Arab world after 9/11 is deliberately misleading. While terrorists rejoice in the killing of innocents, I feel justified in celebrating that the victims of his terror have been brought a modicum of closure. I feel justified celebrating the removal of a leader who ruined the reputation of an otherwise peaceful religion practiced by over 20 percent of the world and created nothing but hate. Remembering the historical wrong committed when the United States shortsightedly funded bin Laden, imposing his reign of terror on millions , we can rejoice that those people need not fear him any longer. Because of his death, not only will Osama bin Laden never live to terrorize another soul, but the morale Al-Qaeda has been shattered. For this, the world owes those Navy SEALs a debt of gratitude.

I have never been more grateful to live in a country that will defend me from those who wish to do me harm. We have sent a very powerful message that anyone wishing to terrorize the United States can expect to be held responsible, no matter the cost. Bin Laden’s death is even more significant in the context of the Arab Spring. While democratic freedoms and conventional political participation are becoming a reality for millions of Muslims, Sunday’s events have made terrorism less of an option. I am hopeful that through the death of one mass murder, that future lives will be spared. To me this is worth celebrating.

-Isaac Hasson

Weinberg sophomore