Chalk One Up for the Good Guys

Yesterday was a great day for America and for the war on terror. I expect that I am not the only person whose internal monologue chanted "USA! USA!" when news of Bin Laden's death came across the wire last night.

On September 11, 2001, I remember rolling out of bed around 9:00am and realizing that I had slept through my 8:00-9:30 Tuesday/Thursday class. After I scrambled to get dressed with the hope of avoiding going 0-2 in attendance at my morning classes, I ran into my next door neighbor as he headed to the trash chute. "Can you believe this shit?" he asked. "Huh?" I mumbled. "These terrorist attacks. It's crazy." I went back inside, turned on the TV, and wrote off the rest of the day.

With the more recent devastation of Hurricane Katrina, we New Orleanians sometimes forget the enormous impact that 9/11 had on our local way of life. Sure, we easily recognize the longer lines at the airport and rising prices at the pump that the rest of the country and the world were experiencing. But ask any restaurateur, and they will tell you that the tourism industry - one of New Orleans' largest employers and generators of tax revenue - was brought to its knees in the months after September 11, 2001. The good times were most certainly not rolling.

I often listen to people more intelligent than me say that the greatest tragedy in the war on terror is the loss of our prized American freedoms. But for those of who lost friends and loved ones on 9/11 and the resulting military campaign, even greater grief may be found in those unfulfilled memories that never were. As Brett Anderson so eloquently wrote back in 2001, we must not let loss and despair hold back our daily lives and celebrations. Because if we do, then the terrorists have succeeded.

Yesterday was a great day for America. It took nearly 10 years, but revenge is a dish best served cold.