Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips

VE Day Celebration

This is a famous photograph taken during the celebration that ensued when victory in Europe WW II was celebrated. Victory was being celebrated as in “we won.” Also being celebrated was that the killing stopped. The sailor kissing the girl wasn’t going to be killed.

How does this relate to Osama bin Laden? Yesterday’s blog post relayed my shock at the celebrations of bin Laden’s death. On second thought…

I cannot find a photo of an American generation celebrating an event since the end of WW II. Were there any big celebrations at

• the end of the Korean police action?
• the Vietnam War?
• the fall of the Berlin Wall?
• Gulf War I?
• Gulf War II?

George W. Bush tried to have a famous photo on the aircraft carrier at the end of the first phase of Gulf War II. That backfired as more Americans were killed after that event than before that event.

Perhaps the “bin Laden is dead” celebrations were a shot at recreating the photo that has haunted every American generation since that day in 1945. Maybe the little celebrations have something behind them.

I think it is a shame that the death of bin Laden doesn’t mean that the killing will stop. I am afraid that there will be a rise in killing. I hope that rise will be short lived. Maybe one day…