WHODUNNIT? CAT OR HAWK?

I have been wondering whether to put these thoughts on my blog entitled No Crying at My Funeral or just restart my 365 Thoughts with pure white feathers all over the front of the house. 
I got up, showered and looked out the window to check on the weather.  What I saw on the ground was a bunch of white shards of something.  I know that I didn't have a white light globe anywhere, so I wondered what all those white pieces could be.  Once I had covered my wrinkled self to shield the world from the obscenity of my prune-like ugliness, I went out for a  closer look.  What I saw was a fairly rare display of the leavings of what had to be a clash of interest between the recipient of gentle nibbling kisses from the sweet lady who forgot to close the gate on the cage and a raving, hungry cat, or some other craven carnivore.  Actually, some of the parts were still in pretty good shape.  The wings were still practically intact.  So much so that some other crippled bird could use them.  Except maybe, a hummingbird.  The tail was nowhere in sight.  Breast and down feathers were decorating the gleaming dewy area with their still pristine white sheen.  The tail feathers were bent and damaged and strewn around in an repugnant display of the effects of effective violence.  Imagine, all the poor cockatoo was able to muster was a sad, "Kiss my ass" defense.  Is it significant that the head is nowhere to be found?

I know that some of you are awaiting a moral to this story.  There is one, of course.  In fact, there might even be several.  Some may come from the Bible, some may come from another source.  Some may be moving for me and some for you.  If you're young, (most of you are) you may not be moved at all.  If you're old, maybe you're not moved, just reassured that the warning to "be prepared" is not just for the Boy Scouts.  Wherever you fall on the scale of this true story and the moral of it, remember: Lock the cage; Lock your house; Lock your car.

OBL -- 2 REACTIONS -- [1] POLITICAL [2] MORAL

[1] All hat. No cattle.  
I suspect that ol' George had good intentions.  After all, he did describe himself as the "decision maker." He did intend to "smoke him out" and to "bring him back, dead or alive."  You wouldn't suppose that his close relationships to the Imperial Wahabi Muslims in Saudi Arabia would have made him just a little gun shy when it came to bringing their kin back on a slab, do you?  
I know that this is a more complex reality than my question indicates.   Therefore, I am moving on to 
[2] the moral considerations that formed the second part of my reaction to the news about the slaying of Osama bin Laden.
Is there anyone among you who would like to stand on a street corner and interview pro-lifers about their moral reaction to the taking of bin Laden's life?
Is there a "pro-lifer" among you who would be willing to admit that sparing bin Laden's life would have been the morally better thing to do?
I am on record as being "pro-choice" and having the opinion that "pro-lifers" are single issue activists who do not appreciate the profound meaning of "choice."  The kernel of my thesis is that if we take "choice" away from ourselves, we deviate from the Will of God who created us with the freedom of choice.  In so doing, we make ourselves less than human.  Therefore, I have always said, and still do, that I am "anti-abortion."  Furthermore, I have, over the years, become "anti-capital punishment."  Yes, even for bin Laden.  Why?  In very few words, here's why.
It makes the world poorer by his absence.  The evil that he represented is after all, not absolute evil.  That means that he did have something good to offer to the rest of humanity, not matter how little.  I am of the opinion that someone, somewhere and at some time could have gotten something valuable from his continued existence in life, even behind bars.  I am so sure of that that I dare say, that it is undeniable that that is true
It diminishes our ability to feel secure in our own virtue.  We now have given ourselves a taste of what it feels like to take the life of another human, for whatever reason.   By participating in that corporate action, from the safety of our comfortable abode, we have participated in a act of revenge, not an act of justice.  An act of justice would be a virtuous act.  True virtue would dictate otherwise. True virtue would make us grow in the Spirit.  Revenge makes us more comfortable in our humanity standing alone, not in relationship with the God that we love and to Whom Jesus introduced us by His Passion, Death and Resurrection.
Finally, it does nothing to diminish the power of evil in the world.  By taking bin Laden's life, we did nothing to cleanse the world of evil.  In fact, we participated in the evil ways of the world by answering cruelty with cruelty.  We all know that there will be more evil engendered by our act of so-called "virtue."  In our post Jesus Christ life, the lex talionis (law of equal retaliation) has been replaced by the law of forgiveness and restitution.  True that bin Laden owes us restitution, but we do not practice virtue by exacting our form of "restitution" on him by violently taking his life.  Besides, his is but one against 3,000.  On top of all this, let's not forget that there are lieutenants of his who will visit us and others with evil acts in return for our vengeful behavior.
I end this altogether too short essay by reminding you once again that you now know why there is to be No Crying at my Funeral.