Take a moment from your day
A number of years ago I was standing gazing out of a big plate-glass window in a major department store in the Pearlridge Shopping Mall in Honolulu.I was gazing out because right below the huge store lay Pearl Harbor. And as I looked I could see in the distance the Arizona Memorial and below the memorial and highly visible was the outline of the hull of the USS Arizona. Within that hull, of course, are the remains of 1,177 sailors and marines who remained trapped after the attack.
The attack was exactly 66 years ago today, on December 7th, 1941.
She still bleeds oil, does the Arizona. She no doubt bleeds metaphorically, too.
The head-shaking moment of that day came about with my realization that the megastore in which I was standing was Japanese-owned.
The cruel irony struck me at the time. If the Japanese had only put off their strategic (and ultimately doomed to fail) plan, they might have been there, setting up shop, regardless.
There need have been no stinking jungles of Guadalcanal, no Bataan Death March, none of the horrors of flamethrowers in pillboxes and hideous POW camps which left even the survivors broken and maimed physically and spiritually forevermore. Ultimately, as pertaining to Japan, there would have been no Hiroshima or Nagasaki.
But, there was. And that is the reality of it all and the madness of human affairs throughout history.
Take a moment to remember the day and ‘all’ its meanings. They are manifold.
Labels: Ironies and cruelties of war
posted by Ian Lidster at
9:34 AM
11 Comments:
Ian, a thoughtful post, I doubt many people give this a second thought these days.
A poignant reminder Ian - and history is revealing mankind still has not learned the terrible devastation war causes.
Contrasts.
How many people buy a kitschy "Sunken Arizona" snow globe at a souvenir stand and never give the event a second thought?
Humans being what they are, it would have been very surprising if things had happened otherwise.
Yes.
What gets me is Mitsubishi. American metal into Japanese planes. Lose the war? No problem, we'll make... cars and sell them to the Americans! They even still use the propellor symbol. You have to admire the adaptability of the Japanese. Especially as they have managed to retain the elements of their history and traditions that make their culture unique - even as they have changed dramatically politically and socially. Thought provoking post.
If Japan had not attacked Pearl Harbor, we would not have rescued and documented all of the prison camp survivors of Hitler's Final Solution. As horrible as all of the aspects of the asian theatre were, I'm glad we got involved in the war when we did. I have the greatest love and respect for all the WWII allied troops, may they rest in peace.
A lovely post.
good one, ian...
06 december was the 90th anniversary of the halifax explosion, man-made incident that killed the most people prior to the first a-bomb... estimated at some 1900
Some poignant and good comments here. I was thinking later that I drive a Nissan, watch a Hitachi TV, look at DVDs playing on a Toshiba, listen to CDs on a Sony and take photos with either a Nikon or a Minolta. Hmmm.
When I went to visit the Arizona I found it quite a moving experience. I always remember the day and think about it because it is my daughter's birthday.
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