Monday, December 7, 2009

Pearl Harbor

A couple people posted today about Pearl Harbor. I felt a little sheepish that I had forgotten about the 68th anniversary. I try to keep up on those things...not well but I try.

So I went to Yahoo! to see what they had posted about the 68th anniversary. Here were the top 3 headlines

1. The climate summit- very, very important and very news worthy. I will gladly give the summit the #1 spot.

2.Tiger Woods...

Really?

3. That crazy couple that crashed the White House party

Really, really?

Nothing about Pearl Harbor. I understand that this happened a while ago and maybe a memorial service isn't the most interesting news. Maybe we would much rather know about Tiger's torrid affairs (not me personally but golf has never been my thing).

But it reminds us of our history. It is in the fabric of our country.

And in this Twitter, facebook, instant messaging world, we may need to be reminded.

I talked to my dad today about my media rant...

"Well Heather you know that your Great Uncle Jack was at Pearl Harbor."

"No."

"He was there with his wife and baby daughter. It all happened so fast Uncle Jack didn't know if his family was okay. He didn't know where they were for 48 hours."

"I never knew that."

"Uncle Jack worked in the hospital. He had scars on his hands from digging his fingernails into his skin in order to stay awake and keep working. He was one of the first to see the service men come in; burned and broken. Poor Jack, I can't imagine. Your Great-Grandfather Bumpy was about to give a sermon Sunday night when he found out about the attack from one of Jack's brothers. The only thing he said was don't tell your mother....Ha! Like she wouldn't find out."

"Dad, I find this much more interesting than the crazy White House crashers."

"Real life usually is."

Touche' Papa....touche'

4 comments:

Deana said...

I find it much more interesting too.

KatieK said...

I learned some things about our Uncle Jack from your post. Thanks for sharing, Heather, and keeping us grounded in what really does matter!

Heidi said...

Well done on finding out a bit of family history friend! Thank you to your uncle Jack for his years of service! I learned that my great uncle was only 18 and asleep in his bunk when Pearl Harbor stared....he has so many stories....it is very neat to be related to living history! Now, let's get back to the real news...Tiger, White House crashers?? :-)

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Trauma should be the hall pass to life's other issues. Someone should tell the hall monitor

I posted something cryptic on Facebook Saturday. It caught a lot of attention from my tribe but it really wasn’t a big deal…. nothing ...