Journal
In Memoriam
29 May 2006 › 2 comments
Memorial Day is always an interesting day for me. I have not blogged my thoughts and feelings about it before, so please allow me to speak on it briefly. Today is the day we in the United States remember those who died in the horrible attack made by Japan on Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Hawaii.
At 7:55 am on Sunday, December 7, 1941 the Japanese sent 183 planes to bomb an unsuspecting US Navy fleet. It was this attack that forced our hand, and we joined the tussle in World War II. What you do not not learn from watching the recent movie entitled Pearl Harbor is the other side of the story. In the film, we do not see the vicious racist backlash that took place, nor do we see the grand finale – the atomic leveling of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Did you know that when the US rounded up all the Japanese and forced them to relocate, the original title for these spots was concentration camps? Once Roosevelt learned this is what the Nazis were calling theirs, they were quickly renamed to internment camps. That certainly sounded a lot better, as if the Japanese Americans were being allowed to work internships at summer camp instead of being made into prisoners simply because of their ethnicity.
As you may or may not know, I am half Japanese and was born in Honolulu. My grandfather on my mother’s side was in the US Navy during WWII, as a supply officer on a destroyer. My father was born in Japan, but immigrated to the US and served for 30 years as an Air Force pilot. Grandpa, not one to hold a grudge or paint entire people groups with the same brush, used to joke with his more racist Navy buddies, “I have a Japanese pilot in the family!”
So, what is the point of me telling you this? To quote Bertrand Russell, “War does not determine who is right – only who is left.” Also, we need to be careful that we do not equate being American with being divinely right. During the current war on terror, let us remember to pray not only for the safe return of our own troops, but for an end to the suffering of the Iraqi people. I won’t launch into a theological diatribe here. For more on that, read this article.
Discussion + Dissension
Comments closed after 2 weeks.
#1 Ara Pehlivanian
War is such a terrible thing, and yet we constantly find ourselves thrust into it by the actions and decisions of a select few. These people believe themselves justified to drag entire nations into battle, indiscriminately destroying not only the lives of those on the battlefield but the countless marriages, families and other relationships of those back home. I wonder if countries would go to war so quickly if the “king” were to still lead his men in battle instead of hiding in a bunker somewhere.
My heart goes out to those who have lost loved ones to war as well as those innocents who are caught in the middle of the fighting—very often in their own backyards. God only knows the suffering people in countries like Iraq have to go through. I have a very hard time reconciling any suffering, especially when it’s for one’s ethnicity or for being born in a country that inconveniently located. We are so blessed to live in countries that are so far removed from the fighting. But I guess that didn’t make much of a difference for some 60 years ago. :-(
#2 Nathan Smith
Ara: I agree, that even though wars are inevitable, often to keep human greed and ambition in check, it is rarely those who make the decisions who have to live with the consequences. I like what you said about kings / rulers leading their men into battle. I was actually talking with a friend about this the other day, that if it were a home-turf war, or I was drafted, I would fight. Yet, I have a hard time reconciling the motivations behind foreign skirmishes.