On Monday when news of Osama’s death broke I was driving from the farm to the city, tired and stressed, in a world of my own consumed by my own first world issues (a long story, better told over a generous glass of red). My first reaction was one of incredulation that the world’s most wanted man, who had eluded the most advanced military forces for ten years, had finally been taken out.  Then a split second later, and my second reaction is“does it really matter?”  

Sure, it’s restitution of sorts, but realistically there will be others to take his place while for the families of his victims, it most certainly won’t bring back the dead.

The problem with managing the world’s terrorist extremists is very same issue that holds women in a state of oppression throughout the developing world: a lack of education.  It is this lack of education that keeps the illiterate in a class of their own, that perpetuates the lack of options for a better life, and that makes for easy prey by the likes of Osama Bin Laden.

So with that, I was moved by this TED clip that sheds a different light on the victims of terrorism.  These two mothers are divided by their cultures and the opportunities they’ve received in life, yet united in grief for the sons they have lost.  Their story is one understanding, of searching for meaning, and one that I’m sure we can all learn from.

I really encourage you to take a look at this clip and contemplate the lessons in it for all of us… and share your comments.