December 7th, 1941. Is it increasingly forgotten- or less valued as a memory as the years go by? It was a day in which many average Americans started out with going to church, visiting family and usual Sunday activities- but then ended with shock, tears and disbelief. I remember my Grandmother telling me how her family was gathered around the "wireless" (that's not Bluetooth, kiddos- she meant a radio) with another family and they heard the news come across the airwaves. What she said that she remembers the most is the silence in the room, then seeing her mother cry. She has never forgotten it.
I know older people who have forgotten more recent events, etc- but December 7th is burned into their memory. It was a day in which Americans realized that the world was a bit more terrifying, and that the troubles of the rest of the world would no longer be distant. With one act, all of the talk and argument about involvement, isolationism, etc went out the window. The newspapers and politicians may have continued to argue- but the American family knew it was time. It was time to fetch the proverbial rifle, to call upon our heritage as minutemen and citizen soldiers and go and do something about the atrocity of Pearl Harbor, and not finish until the job was done.
It is worth remembering and worth marking the day- and a day that should indeed live forever in infamy. We suffered another devastation loss and attack decades later in 2001, and while we continue to fight in that arena- it may serve us all well to remember that those who would live in freedom must forever remain vigilant- and must never forget neither the cost, nor the value of that freedom.
Always will we remember the character of the onslaught against us. No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the American people in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory.
