A Life for a Life

I wasn't going to put up a post today, but in light of current events, I couldn't not.  If you haven't heard by now, you are doing a much better media shut-out than I've seen in years.  Osama bin Laden has been confirmed dead by U.S. forces.

Like I said, I wasn't going to post tonight, so I'll keep it brief.

On my drive home, I was listening to the radio.  Of course the radio stations were talking about this "historic event".  One of the stations I was listening to was reading off people's comments either off of their website or off of Twitter.  I can't remember which one.  This is actually what prompted me to do this post.  One of the comments really hit something in me and disturbed me:

"I'm happy he's dead."

For a moment, just take those words for what they are rather than for who they are about.  Someone is rejoicing in the loss of a human life.  I'm not condemning this person and I can't say that I completely disagree with them, but I know this is how most if not all Americans feel at the moment.

"I'm happy he's dead."

Is it ever really right to rejoice in the death of another?  I'm not going to defend bin Laden.  He did terrible things during his lifetime that, according to virtually every measure of human law, sufficiently earned him what he got.  But what kind of world are we living in where it is not only acceptable to rejoice in human death, but is almost unacceptable not to?

I'm not going anywhere with this, it just really got to me, and I had to get it off my chest.  I don't have any answer to these questions, but if we are going to claim that all life is precious and everyone is a beloved child of God, does that not extend to people like Osama bin Laden?

Is it ever right to rejoice in the loss of human life?