9-11 AND PEARL HARBOR. REFLECTIONS OF THE PAST

~ Then and now ~

by: bruce nix | published: 09 12, 2010

I was having a discussion with my wife today about attitudes in this country, circa 1941 VS 2010. Today being the 9^th anniversary of the destruction of the World Trade Centers in New York and the attack on the Pentagon. Our world was turned upside down on that fateful day, life would never be the same as we knew it. I remember where I was then, at first just another insignificant day, but the end result was a different outlook on life and my country, at least for me personally.

Not knowing what had happened before my very eyes, showed me how little I was paying attention to the world around me. I had been tuning out the news and focusing mostly on my little world. What a safe little place I used to live in, or so I thought. I suppose many of us had the same out look and it took an event like that to wake us up. Regretfully, I believe that many have gone back to that very mindset. Life goes on around you and as long as nothing directly confronts you, then all is well. How easily we forget the past.

~ Sunday December 7, 1941 ~

World War II, began officially on September 1, 1939, when Germany attacked Poland. Germany then crushed six countries in three months; Denmark, Norway, Belgium, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, and France. Afterward, it conquered Greece and Yugoslavia. America remained neutral.

The Empire of Japan's plans for expansion in the Far East led it to attack the US Pacific Fleet in Pearl Harbor on Sunday, December 7, 1941. Which formally brought the United States into the war. By 1942, all of the major countries of the world were involved in one the most terrible wars in history.

I remember the conversation that I had with my mothers best friend Melba, shortly before she passed away two years ago. “Your mother and I were together when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. We made a promise to each other that day. No matter where we were, we would contact each other every year on that day, from then on.” I never knew that. They too felt the same emotions that we did on 9-11, the day that “Pearl Harbor” became a day of “infamy”.

America's men and women rallied around the flag and launched a nation wide call to arms to bring about retribution from those that attacked us without provocation. A monumental effort was made with the full consent of Congress, to do what ever was necessary to bring those responsible either to justice or to their knees. The offending countries were in essence, reduced to rubble. The will to ever want to wage war on humanity again was taken out of them. They were forced to pay the ultimate price for their transgressions and the world was now a much safer place.

2388 Americans both military and civilians, were killed early that morning in 1941 and the final tally of those who lost their lives as a result of that war may never be known, but it is estimated at about 55 million world-wide.

~The aftermath ~

After the end of WWII, America saw a time of prosperity. The troops came back home, business was booming again, the economy was gaining ground and people were back to work again. There was a sense of pride and accomplishment that permeated the nation. America's wounds were beginning to heal. Manufacturing had developed into a well oiled machine, there was nothing that we as a united nation could not do and we proved that during the war. The world watched as we became the most prosperous country on the planet. The standard of living here, jumped by leaps and bounds. The American dream was now a reality.

American ingenuity and a cannot fail attitude, led the way during the war and rebuilt a nation on the brink of financial decay only a few years past. It was attitude that ultimately made the difference. Not defeatism or apathy, but rather the willingness to work hard and sacrifice, that made the difference. An American trait that was characteristic of our people. It took a tragedy to unite and bring us back from the precipice.

~ Tuesday September 11, 2001 ~

At 8:45 that morning, 19 Islamic terrorists, hijacked 4 commercial airliners with 247 passengers on board. Two of the planes were crashed into the Twin Towers, one into the Pentagon, The other; flight 93, never made it to its target, which was presumed to be the US Capitol in Washington DC and crashed near Shanksville Pennsylvania, after the passengers in a valiant effort tried to retake the plane.

There were 3372 people killed in the attacks on September 11, 2001 at the World Trade Center including those on Flight 93. 125 military personnel and civilians were killed at the Pentagon. A total of 3,497 Americans were killed that day.

Do you remember the shock that you felt first, then the sadness for the loss of life with those images of people jumping from the top of the towers rather than being burned alive? I shall never forget it. I was numb. What if that was one of my family members there or what if I was in that building that day? What about the responders who gave up their lives so that others may have survived? What about their families? The pain. The anguish. The tears.

Eight months in, what a way to start off your Presidency. George W. Bush, then President of this nation did, exactly what every American was thinking on that tragic day. He went after the criminals behind this. The economy of America started to crumble then, just as surely as the Towers did. I am not sure that it ever recovered. The War on Terror began that day. We went into Afghanistan after the Taliban who claimed responsibility and later into Iraq. The rest will be left up to the history books.

~ The aftermath ~

Americans for the first time in a very long time banded together, put away their differences and became united with a common cause of patriotism and retribution. This was the best that I have ever personally witnessed us as a nation of mixed ethnicity. It was amazing.

Our economy was finally starting to come back together and life was getting back to normal somewhat. But things were different. We had faced an enemy on our own land for the first time in many years. Was this the last of it? Our Military had been asked to move into harms way once again, but all of the rules were changed. Our troops found themselves immersed in aquagmire, that was being micro-managed by non-military people. The Congress. The full-scale effort that was behind the defeat handed to our enemies in WWII, was once again not present in this war. Like Korea and Vietnam, if you are not ready to commit to the war 100 percent, then you are bound to fail.

The attitude of American people has changed over the years. No longer a cannot fail attitude, but rather one of apathy and tolerance. Make no mistake, we were attacked on that day by a cowardly enemy as we were on that day in 1941, but things are different now.

The willingness to pull together and sacrifice for the good of the nation is not as prevalent as it was then. We watched on the inter-net, the caskets of our fallen draped in US Flags being delivered home by Military Planes and we were outraged that our sons and daughters were dying as a result of this war. Incidents that are common in wartime conditions were taken apart by every liberal do-gooder in the country and used as fuel for the fire against this war and the Bush administration.

~ Nine years later ~

The Obama administration came on the scene promising to end all of the frustration that our countrymen were expressing over this war. A war that we did not start. A war that began with a cowardly attack in New York by an un-seen enemy. An enemy with the stated purpose of killing Americans and raising the Islamic flag over the White House in our generation. An enemy that seeks world-wide conquest, as much as Germany, Japan and Italy did. An enemy that does not distinguish between civilians and military as targets, who will willingly kill women and children to further their cause. An enemy with no regard for human life what so ever.

Because of an attitude of tolerance, this administration is willing to back a proposed Islamic Mosque on the every site that all of this began. The very enemy of our people want to build a Mosque on the most hallowed ground on American soil other than the site of the USS Arizona at Pearl Harbor. Given the differences in attitude between then and now. What do you suppose would have happened, had there have been a proposal by the Japanese, to erect a memorial to Japanese forces at the site that they attacked in 1941? There would have been a resounding cry from every house in America all the way to the Capitol and the President screaming at the top of their lungs: not just no, but HELL NO!

~ Hope and change ~

The very things that are destroying this nation are welcomed with open arms by a generation that knows nothing of sacrifice and hard work. They laugh at the previous generations that bled for this country and think that tolerance is a promise of safety and prosperity. They have no idea what is at stake. The freedoms and liberty paid for in blood by their ancestors are all but forgotten. They do not know of hardship or of honor.

Obama's ideology, that big business and banks are the enemy and that the wealth of this nation should be re-distributed to those who do not contribute is a course that can only lead to disaster and ruin. His willingness to engage the very enemies of this nation with appeasement instead of strength are a danger to national security. His willingness to strip the military and our defenses down to nothing are insane in this world of tyrants. Hope and change, a fatalistic approach to the destruction of this great country at the hands of a tolerant generation who are willing to allow this to happen.

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