I learned of the news of Osama bin Laden's death during a rainy ride home from Austin to Dallas with my boyfriend. We had been listening to a new CD (Mumford and Sons), but decided to change over to the AM radio when the weather got bad to check for storm warnings. Conversation on the AM stations was stern, but it was not about the weather. Rather, it was about rumors of US troops killing Osama bin Laden. I didn't believe the news at first; I thought it had to be wrong. It was too good to be true. We switched to NPR. Sure enough, they were discussing bin Laden's death as well. Then came the official declaration of his death from PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA.
I grabbed my boyfriend's arm and screamed. Tears started rolling down my face. I was so happy. I was not happy that bin Laden is dead; rather, I was happy that the USA had finally succeeded. The US has been involved in the Middle East for over 10 years; finally, we have something to show for it.
I turned on my cell phone to start browsing Facebook statuses and Tweets. I was appalled by the number of statuses congratulating George W. Bush on his victory in the SMU network. Only one of my friends thought to congratulate President Obama. I changed my status to "USA : )" I thought that should keep every body happy. No need to take sides; at least, not on a Facebook status. I have never found the Facebook wall to be an open-minded arena for the sharing of ideas.
Done with Facebook, I logged on to Twitter. I quickly learned that Osama bin Laden's neighbor, Sohaib Athar, had unknowingly Tweeted the entire US raid of the bin Laden compound! Athar moved to bin Laden's town of Abbottabad "for some peace and quiet," so he was perturbed enough by the raid's noise to Tweet about it:
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The above Tweets are only the highlights. The rest of Athar's Tweets can be viewed here: http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/25wemn/eu.techcrunch.com/2011/05/02/heres-the-guy-who-unwittingly-live-tweeted-the-raid-on-bin-laden/
After checking in with the world's reaction to bin Laden's death, I checked in with that of myself. I am happy that another threat to peace has been eliminated, and that the US has seen some success in its war in the Middle East. Now, in the aftermath of bin Laden's death, I am more worried than ever about a terrorist attack against the United States. With bin Laden's death comes comes a new era of fear. God bless President Barack Obama, and the United States of America.
