Death of Bin Ladin

Many people can describe their exact feelings and what they were doing at important times in history. This is particularly true of major events like the Kennedy assassination or the attack on the World Trade Center. Another event that might have fixed in your mind is the announcement of the death of Bin Laden.

This man, a leader of the terrorists, had eluded all efforts by the Bush presidency to capture or kill him. It was during Obama's time in the White House that a combination of intelligence work and a special task force were able to accomplish the job.

Although that day, my mind felt fuzzy from allergies and the pills I took for those, I took the time to write in my journal about the historic happenings. Mostly my entries were mundane, but this was a day worth recording.

"My husband called me away from my computer, where I was writing at 10 in the evening. He said that the president was going to make an announcement.

How odd, we thought, to do so on a Sunday night, so late in the evening. We speculated about the possibilities. Was some member of the first family suffering a serious illness? Were we under attack and war about to be announced?

We waited, as the announcement was pushed back several times. Finally, some tidbit of news leaked through to the commentators and they said that the President's appearance was about the death of Osama Bin Laden. They had little detail to share, so mostly speculated about the impact of this event.

To fill airspace, they showed footage of jubilant crowds assembling around the outer fence of the White House in Washington. The people were waving a flag, chanting USA, USA, and launching into an awkward singing of the Star Spangled Banner. It was good to see Americans feeling a pride in their country.

After years of futile searching for this terrorist leader, he had been neutralized. Sure there are many more terrorists out there, but this was an important moment."

I asked my friends this question and here's what they remembered.

• Marigold Tortelli - I work nights so I was asleep while the television news was going crazy. When I got to work my co-worker told me, and I left the television on while I was working and just watched New York celebrate on CNN.

  Camden1 - I was at home...my son found out about it first and then we all gathered around the TV together.

• CruiseReady from East Central Florida - I was at work in my home office when the fabulous Navy Seals scored this one.

• Diane Cass from New York - I was driving to my afternoon job, and was listening to the radio. I knew my Army son would be ecstatic.

• norma-holt - I was on my computer and heard it on the morning news on the radio.

• Todayhaspower LM - I was at the video store, and this random guy said, "Um, I don't know if anyone cares...but my buddy just texted me and said it was on the radio that Osama Bin Laden was killed." Then I texted my friend who knows all the current news stuff and he confirmed it. :)

• hzandstra - I heard it on the news as I was waking up. I thought it was a dream... Then heard it again and woke up to see it on T.V.

• Bill from Gold Coast, Australia - I think I first saw this news when I opened up my computer first thing in the morning and it was on my Google homepage.

• BunnyFabulous from Central Florida - I was at home on the computer; a friend posted on facebook about it.

• entertainmentev - I was giving a lecture about Toni Morrison. Wow...the memories.

• fugeecat lm - I was at work when the news came in.

• PeterStip - hmmm indeed, I do not think the killing of Obama Bin Laden (who should have been brought to the international court in the first place) is a big event in history. History is worldwide, it's not only about America.

• Kate Loving Shenk from Lancaster PA - I was at work when one of my

  colleagues ran out of a patient's room excitedly saying that Bin Ladin was killed. Naturally, I never believe anything I hear until further verification. But as we all now know, it is true.

• Chocolate Pickney from Jamaica - I was at home when I heard news flash on air.

• autofanatic - I was at my favorite Navy Seal bar (McP's) in Coronado, CA having a beer. It tasted good!

• JoshK47 - I was just relaxing, reading a book when text messages and twitter started flying.

• Jennifer P Tanabe from Red Hook, NY - Watching Trump's Apprentice show - they interrupted the last 15 minutes to tell us there was going to be an important announcement!

• WindyWintersHubs from Vancouver Island, BC - I heard it on the evening news. I thought it was a hoax and couldn't believe what I was hearing.

• slappywalker - I was at my father's house for a visit, and I was getting ready to go to bed. I kept seeing that there was going to be a news conference on TV but there were no details. I hopped on Twitter and saw the buzz building that the announcement was that Bin Laden had been killed.

  I still found it ironic that the press conference cut into an episode of The Apprentice.

• junior3643 - I was sleeping when it happened but when I got up I went to check my email before school and on the front headline of comcast.net was this headline. We then later talked about it in history class.

• Annie - Engrossed in watching one of our favorite Sunday evening shows when the last 15 minutes were interrupted by the news.

• Joan Hall from Los Angeles - I had been out all day. When I got home that evening I turned on my computer and saw on my Twitter feed that people were tweeting about bin Laden's death.

• ChrissLJ - I was writing an article. It was only my 2nd day of vacation from work, and I was determined to not turn on the TV all weekend. Someone posted on FB that I needed to turn on the news and caught it right before Pres. Obama made his speech.