Okay fine, I guess technically it's not 'mandatory' I blog now. Nobody is holding any of my loved ones hostage until I post a new blog entry (.... that YOU know... technically if that was the scenario I guess I wouldn't be allowed to tell...) but let's be honest, it's been a crazy couple of days. And I don't just mean personally, I daresay everybody knows the big news by now... unless you live under a rock...
That's right, the Heat beat the Celtics in game 1!!!!!!
.... okay okay all joking aside the whole Osama Bin Laden thing is pretty big needless to say (I find that phrase needlessly ironic. If something is 'needless to say' then why say 'needless to say'.... I don't think I'll ever type the word 'needless' as much as I just did ever again in my life) and I'm sure everyone has seen reactions from all over the place about it. A large portion are profanity laced supportive comments for the military and America in general, a lot are about how we should be thankful for Obama's leadership, a lot are about how Obama shouldn't get to count this as a win, a lot are angry at the OTHER side's reaction ("How dare you give Obama credit!?" "How dare you politicize this and criticize Obama!?" "WHERE THE CRAP IS MY BEER!?!?!?!" ... okay that third guy really didn't care about the political dialogue....) and honestly it's enough to make someone's (read: MINE) head spin.
Honestly, I think moments like this should be for retrospection and thought. But I wonder, and maybe it's just me, if maybe it's too hard to really process everything with all the noise. From the moment Bin Laden's death has been announced there's been so much commentary and dialogue that it's been hard to really generate my own thoughts without thinking about what someone ELSE said about it already. Honestly even the moment I found out about it seemed surreal to me. It'll probably be one of those 'remember where you were when you heard?' moments for me. I was with Adam and Bill and we were playing video games at my apartment (Bill was playing Portal 2... which you should totally be playing. Right now. Go on, I'll wait) and that moment is probably seared into my memory. Since then it's been a constant barrage of thoughts/news/analysis on the topic.
So as weird as it may seem, my point with this ISN'T to give you my take on the death of Osama Bin Laden. The way I figure it there's enough blogs and articles on that in the last 2 days to last a lifetime. You could find longer and better thought out takes on the subject all over the web at this point (Here's a good example from a friend of mine named Wesley: http://www.facebook.com/notes/wesley-blackburn/a-time-to-dance-or-a-time-to-mourn/10150242900095406). Honestly my primary motivation in writing this today is to think more about thinking.
... that's either the most zen comment I've ever made or it's the biggest 'no duh' comment I've made lately. :-P I'm okay with that.
You see my concerns about this situation more stem from the overload of information and opinions we go through on an everyday basis now. Are we really taking the time to reflect on what goes on around us, or do we just regurgitate (lol I spelled that right on the first try. I know because I opened up Microsoft Word to double check. I double checked the spelling on the word 'regurgitate' because apparently I'm nuts) the thoughts and opinions of the influences around us? Do we get irritated because we see political/religious thoughts that disagree with our gut reaction and we just respond without thinking?
Do we think? Or just retweet?
... I wish I had a clearer answer. Even if just about me.
-Jolson
Colossians 3:12-14
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