We find ourselves looking back at the day that demonstrated to the 20th century the price for not preparing.
For our parents and grandparents, it was most definitely a shock. The concept that mighty America could be so bloodied on a sunny December morning was beyond belief.
In the early years of the 21st century, we got another such shock, this time on a Sunny September morning.
We found out that nothing had really changed. A determined foe could still strike us in our centers of power.
After a decade of fighting, it seems to me that we find ourselves in no better condition. Indeed, recent events seem to indicate that we have went backward, surrendering our freedoms for some temporary security.
Where do we go from here? Do we, as our fathers, mothers, grandfathers and grandmothers did before us, stand tall and fight through to victory? Or do we cower and simper, hoping to be the last ones taken?
Perhaps things are not that dire, yet. Or perhaps they are. From our current position, it’s impossible to tell. Our children and grandchildren will provide the future historians who will make those judgments.
I hope they judge us as positively as we have judged our parents and grandparents.