There were two Osama bin Ladens.
There was the Osama bin Laden who was on this Earth, who lived and breathed and spoke and took action.
And then there was the Osama bin Laden who lurked in people’s minds, the bin Laden who was not of flesh and blood but who was a symbol.
Osama bin Laden the man was not someone whom any of us ever met, though we all witnessed the havoc and tragedy he wrought. But Osama bin Laden the symbol has been with each and every one of us ever since that day, and he is someone we have all known intimately, day after day after day.
Here in the 21st century, one of the things that makes us American is what the symbol of Osama bin Laden has come to represent. To be American is to share certain feelings whenever his picture appears or his name is uttered. Feelings of villainy, animosity, enmity. And frustration. Osama bin Laden the symbol represented frustration to all Americans because Obama bin Laden the man still walked the Earth.
Late last night, the news broke. For an hour it percolated on computer screens and smart phones, crawled across the bottom of television shows, and spread throughout the nation. And then the president spoke. Barack Obama summoned all of his legendary dignity, took to the podium, unleashed the rich baritone, 
and he confirmed and explained what we had all come to know.
Osama bin Laden is dead. American soldiers shot and killed him. No more can he live or breath or speak or take action.
But only the man is no more. Osama bin Laden the symbol yet lives. Bin Laden the symbol will never die so long as anyone remembers what happened on September 11, 2001.
Yet just as a living, breathing person ages and changes over time, so too can a symbol shift and evolve. While Osama bin Laden will always represent villainy and hatred, never again will he represent frustration. Instead, he will symbolize the imminent defeat of Al-Qaeda as well as the perseverance and courage of Americans. He will symbolize our long fought victory.
The man is dead. The symbol lives on, but has been broken and remade anew.
No one lives forever. But ideas can.
II.
When I was a boy, my 6th grade English teacher Mrs. Newman taught us that it was impolite to applaud or cheer at the conclusion of the national anthem. That to hoot and holler or even clap was vulgar. Not that the people who did it were vulgar, but that the action was vulgar. The anthem was solemn, she said, and the proper and respectful action was to acknowledge it with reverential silence.
There are seemingly no more Mrs. Newmans left. The Star Spangled Banner is a general cause for all sorts of jubilant celebration these days, but her sentiments always resonated with me. The truth is, I believe there is more dignity in silence than speech, more power in withholding than giving, deeper meaning in standing still than flailing about.
Osama bin Laden is dead, and I will not cheer. I will not raise my voice in celebration, I will not clap my hands, I will not sing or make merry. Rather, I will stand quietly, solemnly, and calmly, knowing that other Americans, regardless of how they choose to express it, feel the same way as I do.
Today, we are all reminded that we are all Americans.
