When Hyojin Jenny Hwang wrote on Facebook that she was saddened by the sight of young Americans jubilantly cheering Osama bin Laden's death, the angry response was swift -- even from friends.
"One friend told me she felt judged for feeling happy," said Hwang, 30, of New Jersey. "And another one simply unfriended me on Facebook."
As the hours passed, though, Hwang received messages of support, too, from people similarly unnerved by the scenes of euphoria: chants of "USA! USA!" at the White House gates and ground zero; signs such as "Obama 1, Osama 0"; or T-shirts available online, saying "GOT HIM!"
It's one thing to be reassured that the world's most wanted terrorist has been brought to justice. But where does gloating begin? It's a question being posed by ordinary Americans, religious figures, commentators and several 9/11 widows. And it's bound to be on President Obama's mind as he treads that fine line in a visit Thursday to ground zero in New York.
Obama has planned a somber and quiet visit -- no speech, the White House said, just laying a wreath at the World Trade Center site and meeting privately with families and first responders.
Religious leaders has expressed concerns over the celebrations that have erupted this week. The Rev. Albert Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, wrote that Bin Laden's death was justified as an act of war, but not as an act of justice. "Such celebration points to the danger of revenge as a powerful human emotion," he wrote on his website this week.
For three women who lost husbands on 9/11, the jubilant scenes that took place Sunday night were disturbing.
Kristen Breitweiser said they brought back images of Bin Laden supporters celebrating in the streets on 9/11.
"Forgive me, but I don't want to watch uncorked champagne spill onto hallowed ground where thousands were murdered in cold blood," she wrote Monday on the Huffington Post. "And it breaks my heart to witness young Americans cheer any death -- even the death of a horrible, evil, murderous person -- like it is some raucous tailgate party on a college campus. Why are we not somber?"
Marian Fontana, wrote on Salon of how her son, Aidan, who was 5 when his father died, had gone to school on Monday and called at lunchtime, wanting to come home. "Everyone is talking about Bin Laden. In every class, they are happy he is dead, but I don't feel happy," she said he told her.
And Deena Burnett Bailey, of Little Rock, Ark., who lost her husband Tom Burnett, a native of Bloomington, Minn., said she was struggling with how to talk to her teens. "To say that I'm happy that he was killed just seems odd, and it goes against my Christian faith," she said. "The girls and I were talking about it. ... One of them said, 'What can we say, Mom? We can't say praise the Lord, he's dead.' I said, 'I know. You just have to know that someone else made that decision, and that he will now stand before judgment for having killed so many people.' "
Online, some Americans said they saw nothing wrong with Sunday's outpouring.
"If you cannot cheer about the demise of a truly wicked man who took so much from us, what do you celebrate?" Edward Hannigan, 45, of Chico Hills, Calif., wrote on Facebook. In another post, he added: "I'm damn happy he's dead. And on top of that, I hope it hurt. A lot."
But Donna Guhr, 44, of Crestone, Colo., said she was concerned about scenes of the jubilation inciting retaliatory attacks. "He had a lot of followers, and they're not getting any happier with us," she said of Bin Laden. She added that the celebrations made her recall a quote attributed to Gandhi: "An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind."
