Last night while I was seeing my twitter feed I caught the following Tweet by @hectorramos

[blackbirdpie url=”http://twitter.com/#!/hectorramos/status/64878145576251392″]

It made me take a look at the rest of my feed and catch that Obama was about share an important message. Speculations started on twitter of information that had been leaked (showing once again that Privacy of information is completely Binary as It was stated on my previous post of the book Curation Nation. I quickly grabbed my Ipad left my office and went to the only room with a TV at my house to wait on the Obama’s message. Most of the news networks had confirmed the information before it was shared but it was a unique experience.

9/11

I remember when I was heading to school and my mom called me from Connecticut to let me know that the U.S. was under attack. This phone call had various meanings; Mom knew that I was part of the U.S. Army Reserve and that could mean that I would get activated and sent to war. As a Service member serving the U.S. Army reserves I knew I could be called at any time. I remember this triggered a series of events because I truly believed I was going to get called for duty. I had a few friends that where part of the Mortuary Affairs Army Reserve Unit that where activated in hours to help out with the body recovery effort at the Pentagon. I quickly entered a strict training regimen to make sure that if I got called I would be ready for the worst. Thankfully I served my times in the Army Reserves and was never sent to a Combat Zone but have many friends that went got injured and lost their lives given this unique event that triggered the so Called “War on Terror”.

The Man Vs. The Idea

I think at that moment and while I was in the Military I disliked Osama in a way you could not imagine (Don’t get me wrong I still don’t like him but I would not call it hate). I think after many years of analyzing this situation I really think Osama was not the problem. I remember reading Thomas L. Friedman’s books before this incident from From Beirut to Jerusalem (Amazon Affiliate Link) which helped me understand a bit more the Muslim and Arab culture. Thomas also wrote Longitudes and Attitudes: The World in the Age of Terrorism (Amazon Affiliate Link) where he shares his post 9/11 writings. Something that was very clear in that book was the ideals that Osama was an example and leader of where shared by many. Although the U.S. got rid of someone who know will be considered as a villain by some and a martyr by others the Anti U.S. sentiment from many extremist groups is more than alive.

Would you be in his Shoes?

Part of the consequences of the evil things Osama did had consequences that where very clear. His legacy is going to be that he was a man hated by many. I think going in line with a post I read today on how organizations should keep Assholes out because they can lose a lot more by my friend @thebrandbuilder we can apply the same ideas expressed by Olivier into Al Qaeda as an organization. Osama, as a man on this earth is no longer here and he was not even given a burial place where his loved ones (although some people would say he had none) could pay his respects. I definitely would not have wanted to be in his shoes for the last few years living under the type of stress he was in.

Let Osama’s situation serve as a lesson that when you use violence as your first option and try to hurt someone it will come back to you sooner or later. I see many people hurting others to get to there selfish goals.

There is no better thing than helping others and respecting other people’s thoughts. Osama clearly wanted everyone to think like them and he would not hesitate into hurting others.

So if you are using negative actions either in person or hiding behind online aliases to meet an agenda think twice sooner or later someone will find you.

Are your actions producing things that will bring benefit to everyone. Or are you just thinking of your own self and your agenda?

There is always time to do something positive and correct those actions we still need work on. Do it today!

As an ex-servicemember I really think Osama was a Casualty of War and given he was playing with fire I really feel indifferent about his death?

Will you feel any safer ? Does Osama’s Death resolve anything? Would you like to have been in his shoes?

Photo Credit by AfghanistanMatters