Pearl Harbor Remembered

Be for the night turns to a new day, I wanted to pause to remember Pearl Harbor.

Pearl Harbor marked the entrance of the US into a war that would resist tyranny at great cost of life. It would end with two bombs that introduced a terror into the world not seen before, a weapon like no other weapon before it. Unless one is a pacifist -- and to this point despite a commitment to nonviolence I haven't been able to take that step -- one could say that this was a necessary war -- a necessary evil, for no war is a good war. It is true that one can disagree as to how the war was fought and to the way it ended, but that is for another day.

But back to Pear Harbor -- having been to the Arizona Memorial and experiencing first hand the eeriness of that place, I do stop today and remember the young men entombed below the memorial (and the others buried elsewhere on the island). December 7th is a day to be remembered in the hope that it not be repeated.

As we remember the day, we must acknowledge that the events took place 66 years ago. Even the youngest survivors of that day -- both American and Japanese are now in their mid 80's. Each year that number diminishes and soon there will be no one left alive to tell the story.

However you choose to remember that day and the ones who died that day, would you also join me in praying that peace will be with us and that other young women and men need not lose their lives in war.