Late last evening, after many people on the East Coast had already gone to bed, the White House announced that earlier in the day U.S. Special Forces had launched a targeted operation against a compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan during which they killed Osama Bin Laden, mastermind of Al-Qaeda’s suicide attacks on September 11, 2001 that resulted in the deaths of nearly 3,000 Americans in the World Trade Center, at the Pentagon, and on United Airlines Flight 93 near Shanksville, Pennsylvania.  In an address to the nation, President Obama stated that Bin Laden had been brought to “justice.”

But, what does that really mean?  Will his death bring back any of the victims of that tragedy to their loved ones?  Will it end terrorism?  Can we now turn the calendar back and live life as if it had never happened?  The answer to all of these questions is too obvious to state.

For many, the death of Bin Laden provides closure to a horrific chapter in American History.  Certainly, for family members of those lost that fateful day, I am certain that there is a feeling of satisfaction that the senseless murder of their loved ones has been avenged.  Yet, I am also certain that those emotions are mixed with others including sadness and regret as they relive the horrors of the past.

Having not directly experienced the loss of a loved one in those attacks, I personally feel neither avenged nor satisfied with the events of yesterday.  While Osama Bin Laden’s death removes one more evil force from this planet, there are plenty more left – in all walks of life.  And, does anyone really believe that justice is served when the perpetrator of mass murder lives in relative luxury for almost ten years while the bodies of his victims rot in their graves?

Justice is only just when it is swift, for only in rapid retribution for wrongdoing are prospective perpetrators of evil deterred from their malicious intentions.