By Rachel Schwarz

On Sunday night, news broke that Osama bin Laden had been killed by United States troops just outside of Islamabad. After turning on the news, I texted two of my good friends that currently live in Washington, D.C. I was curious what it was like to be in the nation’s capital upon hearing this unbelievable news.

They both responded with overwhelming excitement. They were anxious to hear Obama speak, but were much more excited to head down to the White House and celebrate in the streets with their fellow citizens.

This morning on my way to work, there was a discussion on the radio about whether it was disrespectful to have any sort of celebration in light of bin Laden’s death. I found it intriguing to observe the polarity of emotions – feelings of justice and patriotism versus bitter sweet pain brought fresh again by this act of hopeful closure.

The news of bin Laden’s death spread like wildfire. It was instantly a trending topic on Twitter, sprawled across the Facebook News Feed, and united the entire country. Pay attention in the coming weeks to the way that your friends, family, and news networks respond to his death. There will undoubtedly be a controversy surrounding the way his body was buried, a thirst for information, and debates about what’s next in the fight against terrorism.