DECEMBER 7^TH 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 7^th 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 7^th 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?