What’s the point of remembering Pearl Harbor? Or, for that matter, 9/11, Gettysburg, the Alamo, and myriad other days of conflict? It’s a relevant question given the current reluctance of many to remember 9/11 and the concerted media effort to keep photos of 9/11 out of the public eye.
9/11 generated the truthers, and a similar crowd sprang up around Pearl Harbor. Even posting the human interest story below concerning a pulley from the mast of the U.S.S. Arizona brings out the nut cases who believe every bad thing results from a conspiracy among a cabal of warmongering bankers and whoever occupies the White House. Giving the truthers their say has some benefits. The paranoid will always be with us, and it’s useful to know just how deranged they really are.
But there are better reasons to remember such things. They are defining events in our culture – rallying points. The concerted effort and sacrifice of a nation or people to meet such challenges speaks well of humanity. Storytelling sustains a culture, and the content of those stories defines it. In remembering the rallying points, we do well also to remember the stories of ordinary people who rallied to a worthy common cause.
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