Today being December 7th, I’d like to take a moment to mention that 68 years ago right now began America’s involvement in perhaps the most bitter and unbridled conflict that this world has ever seen.
On the morning of Sunday, December 7th, 1941 the Japanese Navy unleashed an unannounced attacked on Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. The battle was disastrous to the American side, sinking four battleships, multiple other ships, and in the end killing 2,402 personal, while injuring 1,282 more. It was the catalyst that sparked America to act. Our nation’s involvement in World War II was vital to the Allies’ victory, and yet it came at a horrendous cost. It’s believed that around 60 Million people lost their lives during the war, and the side effects can still be seen. Those who lived through the war hold their own memories, while the stories, photographs, films, and memorials stand as warning to the rest of us.
I went through the entire day knowing that this was the anniversary of Pearl Harbor; in fact I’d even been dreading it a little bit this past week. I had imagined some recognition of the event, or at least questions to me about how American’s felt towards Japan because of the war. But it turned out that I had to wait until the 10:00 nightly special before I heard the Japanese side of the story.
The coverage of the attack was of course solemn and historical. There were the photographs, the personal accounts, the sad music, and the narrator with virtually the same voice as every other documentary you’ve every seen (I swear there’s one man and one woman sitting in an audio booth making millions on documentary narrations!). So basically, I made it through the day without grueling interviews or threats of World War III, but in some ways that made it harder for me to accept.
But as I stop to think, I suppose the USA doesn’t exactly highlight all of our great errors either. We don’t like to discuss the condition of everyday people in war zones we created (PLEASE check out Dina Fesler’s story, a Northfielder who’s changing the world, she and Minneapolis NEED Magazine’s founder Kelly Kinnunen are all over the news as they uncover current day Afghanistan. They were front page Star Tribune, and international CNN/CBS are beginning to pick up the story. Kelly works his magic with the video camera while Dina does the contacts, helps with donations and constantly searches for media recruitment. The best source to learn more is: www.needmagazine.com/blog). As American’s we ignore what we’ve done to the Native Americans, you rarely hear mention of poor South America and the CIA’s twisted business down there, it took us years to confront equality issues and I couldn’t tell you the dates of our first attack on Iraq to save my life. So in the end, I can tell you for certain that on the whole the Japanese people do indeed feel an incredible amount of shame and sadness when it comes to World War II, yet they, like any other nation, do not go parading the streets when it comes to their greatest blunders.
What I continue to tell myself is that they lost over 71 Million people as well and the struggles that they went through to rebuild their nation is something that takes (and is taking) years to recover from. Fortunately the memorials are abundant, the stories are vivid, and the museums extensive. But what still gets me every time is the “Holy Crap” realization that if this were only two generations earlier, I would be at war with the people I surround myself with each and every day…it’s unsettling, I’ll tell you that much.
I was also going to type out a story for next year’s Rotary applicants. There are 20 applicants from my hometown of Northfield for RYE (Rotary Youth Exchange) and I know just how desperate they are to find out the results. I went through the same thing last year. I just hope my experiences, challenges, insights, and random pearls of wisdom -I’m bound to stumble upon one every once and a while ;) - can help show them what it truly means to be an independent, foreigner-reliant, uncertain, ambitious, and excited young adult in a distant land! But that will just have to wait until tomorrow.
PS Wanna know what I wasted my night on before writing this?! Making Christmas CDs for people! Haha, it was fun. I even drew individual pictures! Hahaha By far my favorite was Rudolph!
Pretty heavy philosophy there, young man!! When I toured the memorial in Pearl Harbor five years ago, there were a number of Japanese in the group and I couldn't help but wonder about their feelings. Grandma Estenson
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