Should we celebrate death?

When I heard about the death of Osama bin Laden this morning (yes I know, I was a bit late on this one), something squirmed inside me. The thought of people celebrating the death of someone, even one as evil as he was a bit unnerving to me. I thought about how we live our whole lifes in hopes of leaving a legacy, and in contrast how sad it is that people would celebrate at one’s death. Not to say that I am sorry he’s gone. I’m very glad, and I am proud of our country for executing such a successful mission. Thus, I am torn between being proud of our country and happy for the justice found, and the moral unease at the celebration of taking another’s life.

I read the following comment on CNN’s website, which I think explains similar sentiments quite well.

Wzrd1Ray, I personally was disgusted by the celebrations. Don’t get me wrong, I’m REAL glad that he is dead. Extremely glad.
But CELEBRATING a death of a human should NEVER be permissible in a civilized people. Celebration of victory, yes. Celebrating death, never.
To be honest, the celebrations literally reminded me of when Palestinians danced in the streets after 9/11.
Of course, I also have a singular perspective of nearly 5 years of deployment in the war zone and seeing first hand where such a value system that considers the celebration of the death of another leads.

Thoughts??