My fourth grade class filed into the auditorium joining the entire elementary school for a special announcement. A man awoken from his sleep, was shot in the head last night, and we the school couldn’t be more ecstatic. His body was taken, tied to a weight, and thrown in the ocean; can we get a round of applause? 

The students smiled and cheered, pointing finger guns at each other, pretending to kill the man themselves. I, along with many kids spanning down the 1st grade were confused, slightly shocked by the words of our peers: Everyone was eager to describe what they would do to the man. Stone him to death, light his body of fire, feed him to animals. 

Our teachers made certain this was a one time occurance, a special case in which the rules changed for one day, and we can celebrate the death of someone.

At the time, I felt uncomfortable with the notion that this was acceptable. I understood the 3,000 deaths on September 11th were perpetrated by Bin Laden and that his killing was justified. But I was shocked to see a rejoicing response to his death. We were taught to never think like this. That violence was never okay, that ‘everyone has a mother’, and people who committed crimes were likely the victim of abuse themselves.

I believe Bin Laden’s killing and many other assassinations in history were justified but I always feel uncomfortable when people glorify and celebrate death, weather hearing it in the news or watching it in a movie.