Monday, December 7, 2015

Pearl Harbor Day

Yesterday, I finished the manuscript for the second half of Our Lady of Kaifeng. And today marks the 74th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

There are many things that people don't agree about concerning World War II. But you would think that a seemingly objective fact, like when Pearl Harbor happened, would be incontrovertible. For someone like Marah, talking to her mother after the war, however, even the date was a point of disagreement.


Everything depends on your point of view. Even the date when something happened. Maybe if more people were able to shift their perspective, then we would have a lot fewer disagreements.

4 comments:

  1. People who live in Australia are very adamant about date differences. If it is December 7th here, they will point out it is December 8th there. I think people just use date references because these are easier to remember.

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    1. Hi, Julia. For some people, the use of a date is just a way to remember, but others really insist that their date is the official one, because they think their point of view is the only one that counts.

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    2. I guess the same could be said about my grandpa's generation who fought in World War II. Tom Brockaw and others call them the great generation, but were they truly more brave than others. Were they more brave than Americans fighting during the American Revolution against the British? I suppose it all depends on who we are asking. I always respect my grandfathers for their service to our country, but the moniker the greatest generation sort of feels pretentious, in a way.

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    3. I guess each generation feels unique, and maybe they each are, in a different way. I hate that during WWII all of the war apparatus had been taken over by the government, and there were no privateers. But that is not the fault of those who served and risked their lives. They were just as brave, though maybe not as free.

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