The Return of the Pirates!

In the past, when someone mentioned “Pirates,” I normally thought of wooden ships, music theft, or Keira Knightley. Piracy was almost a fantasy for many people — Costume parties, free downloads, and talking parrots! But now, the term has a completely negative connotation once again.

In case you were sleeping under a rock or still stubbornly boycotting news agencies because you don’t like Obama, let me give you a short recap. Somali Pirates have been attempting to capturing ships and their cargo at a staggering pace. They’ve taken hostages from multiple nations including Russia, Germany, China, and most recently the United States of America.

American Captain Richard Phillips was taken hostage by a desperate crew that attacked his ship. They were quickly surrounded by a fleet of USA ships and helicopters, but were persistent in their efforts. Despite being heavily outnumbered and out equipped, they created a nasty standoff that lasted entirely too long.

At one point, Phillips attempted an escape by diving into the waters, but he was quickly recaptured when the pirates began firing into the water around him. It was a valiant effort, however unsuccessful.

A short time later (On Easter Sunday), military snipers took aim at the pirates holding their brave hostage. And within only a few minutes, the captain was rescued. The planning had to be perfect, the shots had to be on target, the timing had to be exact — And the president had to sign off on the operation. Luckily, all of those things were in perfect concert as the mission was 100% successful.

The U.S. Military got their man, allowing us to display some of our American pride, despite the other troubles in our nation.

Not to be deterred, the Somali pirates tried to capture another American ship only 3 days afterward. They were unsuccessful. The first military ship on the scene to protect the civilian ship was the USS Bainbridge — The same destroyer from which snipers rescued the good Captain Phillips.

The completely disheartening fact about all of this: BOTH ships were en route to various countries to give humanitarian aid.

Hopefully, the world as a whole can put a stop to these incomprehensible attacks on civilian ships and restore peace to the waters. Then we can go back to focusing on the pirates who sit behind computers, serially downloading media.

Not that I’m one of them.