Reflections on Dec 7

Today is the 68th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. This event was our grandparents equivalent to 9/11. As I think about this anniversary, I thought it would be nice to tie it to our class and think about how time acts as an agent of change.

As we live day to day it often seems like nothing happens. It feels like we’re the same person day in day out. Yet when we look back over the course of a few years we find that we actually are different. For example, I am a very different person than I was 10 years ago. So how did this happen? If I feel like I am the same person every day, how did I become different? The answer is that we do change over time, but the rate of change so slow we don’t “feel” it. It is only by looking back that we can see broad differences in our who we are.

The same is true if we think about the world. From day to day it always feels like it’s the same place. Yet if we look back over even short distances of time we find that the world changes radically and quickly. For instance, during World War II (only ~70 years ago) Germany and Japan were our enemies; Russia was our ally. A few years later Russia was our enemy and Germany and Japan were our allies. Now, none of these countries are really on our national threat map (so to speak), but we are focused on fighting terrorists and insurgents in Afghanistan. Oddly enough 20 years ago these same terrorists and insurgents were our allies against the Russians.

What does all this mean? I’m not sure. What I can say is that I see no reason to hate an enemy. If we must fight, whether it is in World War II or in Afghanistan we should remember that we are simply fighting people. Eventually the war will end and in all likelihood our enemies will become our friends. When we visit Pearl Harbor there will probably be Japanese visiting the site. Are they our enemies? Of course not. We should consider them what they are – friends visiting a historical site. We are all now visitors examining the relics of a time that no longer exists.