"Day that will live in infamy"

For those who remember....

http://plasma.nationalgeographic.com/pearlharbor/

 

I`m a veteran...didn`t look at the link but I`ll never forget.

 

In one of our group-reflective moments at work this morning, several people spoke of some of their family memories of this event. I don't believe the passage of time has lessened the significance of the day.

 

I was in a rather long line at the Post Office at lunchtime, and a group of ladies in front of me started reflecting upon the day....the community spirit in adversity was still twinkling in their eyes. And their ability to recall everything as if it happened only yesterday left me with a true glimpse of what they had gone through that day many years ago

 

living here, it is difficult to imagine such destruction. even the military presence here must feel totally reemoved from the worlds woes. what a shock it all must have been. how unprepared everyone must have been. untill i arrived here i had no idea where pearl harbour was.

 

Amazing...they invade several countries, launch a sneak attack on us, commit horrible atrocities throughout thier campaigns, and then we rebuild thier country, and help them set the foundation to take over the world financially. ROTFLMAO. We shoulda put a fence around that place heh heh heh.

 

I think that's what we were trying to do on August 6 and 9, 1945.....

 

Granted, a horrible weapon(s) was used, but it probably saved hundreds of thousands of lives. And, not for nothing, hit me when I`m not looking I`m going medieval. They had it coming.

 

Medieval? I think you just went caveman......

 

I hear the chainmail clinking.

After the fire-bombing of Dresden and other massive attacks, on BOTH sides during this war, the actual destruction caused by the two A-bombs (yes, even including the radiation damage that lingered after) wasn't any more horrific in actual damage and tragedy. The only thing that made them significant was that the damage could be done with one plane and one bomb to destroy one city, instead of needing hundreds of bombers and many hundreds of bombs.

Japan was planning a last-ditch stand to the last man to defend the actual Japanese home islands, and best estimates were that we'd probably lose an additional 150,000 men. They'd have lost far more than that. And we'd have had to virtually destroy all of Japan.

Those two A-bombs broke Japan's will to fight, and saved BOTH sides huge losses. They were the best thing that could have happened to Japan at that point. Of course, that's not how they're remembered today.

 

The r*p* of Nanking...the Bataan death march...the torture and murder of countless thousands of people,non-combatants...the sneakiness and cruelty...if I`m going caveman to suggest that a truly EVIL empire finally got what was coming to them so be it. If it were up to me there`d have been no need to bomb them even with conventional weaponry, but hey, they started it.

 

Most people in most countries are just folks, with much the same loves and fears as everybody else. Evil governments lead people into horrific acts, and after the evil people are destroyed, most of them look around and say "What have we done?!" True in Germany, and true in Japan. Most of the common people didn't "deserve" anything. Neither Germany nor Japan today are anything like what they were during WWII. And that's largely because we stayed around AFTER the war long enough to insure that the evil was weeded out, and the countries were set on a path toward both prosperity and rationality. "Nation building", pure and simple. And people today talk about nation building as if that's something inherently evil.

We learned with Germany after WWI that simply smashing a country and leaving it ruined and in chaos is not smart. We had to go back and deal with Germany again 20 years later.

There are parallels here to us still being in Iraq. If we bail out while they're still in chaos, we'll have accomplished nothing in the long run.

Hatred and vengeance appeal to some people, but they don't solve anything.

 

Good and evil are inherent in each individual, some more than others. The 'goodness' or 'evil' of the masses (or popular thought and actions), become reflected in the governments of various nations.

Not withstanding that concepts of good and evil are relative, and often get distorted to the point of perversion, there are basic concepts of life and liberty which are almost universal. Oppressive regimes can override natural tendencies of self-preservation, life, needs for food, clothing, shelter, and concepts of liberty, but only for a limited amount of time.

Problems occur when the base-line value systems become distorted, and in some cases, inverted. Then the modes of normal and accepted behaviour become a perverse illusion. The nightmare ends eventually. But it may take months, years, or even centuries.

Unfortunately, not every culture values life and liberty and abhors death and suffering as most westerners do. It goes against human nature, but some ideas become even more powerful than life itself (e.g. patriotism, servitude and obedience, the concept of the sacrifice).

~ ~ ~

I too, am a war vet and had the huge displeasure of experiencing things no one should have to when I was young. Not only did a lot of good people get left behind in those far off places in the bad old days, but in some ways so did part of me. Certainly, innocence went M.I.A.

I hated the 'enemy' and held them in distain for many years until I realised that I was hating a part of myself in the final analysis.

Different place and time to Pearl, but basically the same deal in some ways.

The policies in the arena I was in were nonsensical, and the cause a lost one if it even had a point in the first place. But the principles liberties and freedoms that were fought for were priceless, and yeah I would it again in a heartbeat, as unpleasant at it was.

They fought hard and some of them died young, in stupid nightmare of bungled diplomacy. But they did their best, and will live on for eternity in their works, deeds and heroism. To the young especially, it may mean little, or even crazy. But just be grateful that your complacency was paid for in the blood, sweat and tears of others.


(Okay, I’ve said my piece - I’ll turn ‘Soapbox mode’ off now.)