Sunday morning, before 8am on December 7, 1941, Japan attacked and bombed Pearl Harbor. The next day December 8, 1941 Franklin D. Roosevelt addressed the nation and said it was “a date which will live in infamy.” This week was the 79th anniversary of one of the worst events in American history.
Here we are in December 2020 thinking that this year was so bad, and it has been, but put 1941 also in context. The US was already at a full-on war in Europe with Germany since 1939 and losing service members every day in battle after battle. Our military focus was consumed with the war in Europe and then when you thought it couldn’t get any worst, another country (Japan) attacked our blind side in Pearl Harbor and destroyed our Pacific fleet with no provocation or warning.
Yes, 2020 has been bad and the loss of life due to COVID is unthinkable but we are also consumed today with republicans and democrats and social issues like never before. In 1941 with the nation’s security in peril , there was only one team. The US team. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, America for the first time in its history was fearful for its survival. Today even with all the noise, we are not afraid for the nation’s survival. So yes, 2020 has been tough for some and even good for others but it has been far from the anxiety the nation felt in 1941.
It will never happen, but wouldn’t it be great if in Washington there were no different teams and the elected officials represented the best interest of people of the states that put them there? I know this is a pipe dream, but wouldn’t it be great. KT