Justice?

Scene in front of ground zero today as a result of bin Laden's death. There are thousands of people and countless media trucks to report on the events of the day.   I saw many people with American flags.  

I had a dinner party last night and was unaware that Osama bin Laden had been killed in Pakistan last night.  I heard what President Obama said and the initial reaction from some of the top newspapers in New York this morning.

While I thought that President Obama's speech was very comprehensive and good, I disagree with his statement that by killing Osama bin Laden justice has been done.  First, I don't know what justice means in most contexts as justice executed by humans is flawed.  I have rarely - if ever - seen it at work in the world as I know it.   I also don't know how one achieves justice to avenge the killing of thousands of people in New York and all over the world.  I have a problem with two words "justice" and "avenge" because there is no possible way to bring justice to bear and to avenge heinous acts against anybody implies engaging in violence.  I strongly believe in accountability but I abhor violence. As Mohandas Gandhi said, "An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind".

I was living in California on September 11th.  I was supposed to travel the next day to New York on business.  After the terrorist attack on the Twin Towers, all flights were cancelled. I flew to New York on the first flight authorized to fly to New York on the following Saturday.  I immediately went downtown to visit a friend that lives blocks away from ground zero. What was most shocking was to see the flames and smoke (visible from 30 blocks north of ground zero) visible from 30 blocks north of downtown.  Also very disturbing is that when I got to Soho to walk over to my friend's house, I was swallowing and breathing grainy particles, and smoke that was still in the air 5 days after the attack.  This junk quickly got into my lungs and it made it difficult to breathe.  I  remember the restaurants in Soho were offering a class of free champagne to everyone as a way to assuage people's feeling of loss, grief,  and depression - this feeling lasted for a very long time.  While people have bounced back and reconstituted their spirits, the devastation and sorrow of  9/11 is still in the cellular memory of all New Yorkers.  It has affected all Americans and most people who believe in peace, freedom, and love in the world.

As a New Yorker, the killing of one man, no matter how evil his acts cannot bring justice as I understand justice to be.  It does feel very good that he cannot do it to anyone else anymore, in that sense it is a wonderful thing.  I can't help but think about his family and loved ones.  Is it heresy to feel compassion for what they feel for the loss of such a lost soul?   Even the family members in Saudi Arabia who renounced him after 9/11 must be feeling the pain - including his mother.

Attempting to avenge the loss of so many lives and the brutal blow at so many levels to the families and friends is an impossible act. There is no equal "tit for tat" here.  How do you measure retribution for so much pain and suffering?  Even if the same number of terrorists were killed by the U.S. or anti-terrorist forces in other countries, that would not heal the deep wound that already took place as a result of families and friends being devastated at losing loved ones.  The dead will not be brought back and the pain remains.  However, if the friends and family of the victims of terrorist attacks feel that justice has been done, so much the better. I have heard some family members of 9/11 victims state that they feel better about what happened now that Osama bin Laden has been killed, that it has brought closure and a sense of relief to them. I am very glad for that.  Any healing that may take place is a very good thing.

I didn't have a relative or friend in 9/11 although as a New Yorker, I took the attack as a personal attack to a place I call home.  The violence and complete disregard for human lives and suffering that bin Laden and his team of terrorists executed was extreme and horrific.

If I think about those that hurt me at a very personal level in my professional life, I wouldn't feel vindicated if I knew that they were hurt in the same way or worse.  I recently learned that two of them were asked to leave the company where I worked.  One of them was insane and the other one abused his power repeatedly not only in my detriment but also hurt others.  These news made me feel glad.  But justice was not done.  Nothing can compensate for what I and others went through.

What the death of Osama bin Laden hopefully does is curtail additional heinous attacks against innocent people all over the world.  That is the one very valuable thing - other than hopefully bringing family and friends of victims to closure - that may result from his death.  In the context of protecting the world against further violence and senseless suffering it may be helpful.  But, who knows, it may bring about additional violent attacks against civilians as a way to retaliate against the U.S. and its allies.

Which is the problem I have with wars in general.  I don't know who wins what and for how long. And, at what human cost?  I wonder what would happen if we put the same level of energy and resources to peace efforts.

I also believe in divine justice.  As President Franklin D. Roosevelt said, "Presidents do make mistakes, but the immortal Dante tells us that divine justice weighs the sins of the cold-blooded and the sins of the warm-hearted in different scales”.  That applies to all of us.