DECEMBER 7TH 1941 A DAY THAT WILL LIVE IN INFAMY….OR DOES
IT?
As the old saying goes, “Time marches on”. Seventy-five years after the attack at Pearl
Harbor how much attention should the nation give this event? The US “Big Three,
CNN, FOX and MSNBC……. well, two of them
had small, below the line stories leading off this morning and I am surprised
MSNBC didn’t run a story showing that Pearl Harbor was the US’s fault! Yes, most of those who fought in WWII are
gone, but not all……..not all of them. Oceans turn into Mountains, Forrest turn
into Deserts…time marches on! Is there really a reason to honor this day with
more than a below the line story? Politicians will let the day pass by with barely
a comment as there are simply no votes to be gained by talking about it. What does it matter? Does the nation still celebrate
the surrender of the South at the end of the Civil War? Does it recognize the
date Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown? These are two very significant events
in the US’s history and 99.9 percent of the nation doesn’t even know what year
they took place. The US is filled with the “Now society”….you know… Janet’s
line…..” What have you done for me lately”? So in the words of the person who won
the popular vote in the US, Hillary Clinton, “What does it matter”? It’s in the
past!
History:
One of the most abused topics in the US society. Yes, history
is often recorded with rose colored glasses on, but knowing enough about one’s
history to see discrepancies thus allowing one to ask questions, that is a concept
lost with the US culture. Many societies understand their past and celibate
events that are thousands of years old and please don’t comment that the US
does the same by using Christmas as your example. For those of you that don’t
know it, Christmas is about the birth of a Savior and Christianity, not the US
and Black Friday sales. Sorry, it’s not a concept initiated in the US.
Should a society drive on? Should the living reach a point
where the events of the past are simply not worthy of taking time out of a busy
day to contemplate?
Is it healthy to
dwell on the tragedies of the past and if so, for how long?
Pearl Harbor Day was never made a national holiday. How important
could it be?
Lessons from History:
What’s the old saying? “Those who don’t learn from history
are doomed to repeat it”. What does the
history of Pearl Harbor have to teach the people of the US? Was the lesson paid
for by those who died in that war lost? Does anyone in the US ever stop to ask
themselves such a question? “What does it matter”?
On December 7th 1941 one nation attacked another.
One nation was convinced the attack must happen in order to secure their
position of strength in the Pacific. One nation who feared such an event was
perhaps going to happen, simply refused to make hard decisions at the right
moment in time. Arrogance and ignorance are the twin Brothers of poor
leadership. The War in the Pacific was underway on that day, at least for the
US. The struggle for power and dominance was once again the excuse for death on
a massive scale. National survival was
the battle cry, on both sides of the battlefield.
Why do nations go to war? Why do political and sometimes
military leaders convince themselves that others
must toss their lives onto the fires of conflict? What lessons were missed
prior to a war that could have been avoided with a better understanding of “History”?
How important should the lessons from
man’s history be to those who are in a position of power?
On December 7th 1941, the US society was tossed
onto the fires of war. How important is it to understand the events that impact
the whole of a nation’s society?
Is it worth taking the time to study some seventy-five years
later?
Are the people of the United States distend to repeat
history?
It’s 2016 and in the Pacific sits a Dragon. A Dragon who is
growing more and more convinced its ability to survive in the region is being
pressured by another nation.
Was Pearl Harbor really a “surprise attack”?
Will the US fail to understand its history?
Does history really repeat itself?
