9/11 What We Choose to Remember
Tragic events, be they the terrorist attacks on 9/11 or the Japanese attack on Pearl
Harbor on December 7th, 1941, have a way of shaking us out of our partisan
stubbornness and reminded people that we are all Americans. America, like most
families, will either come together after a tragedy or will tear at itself and drift
apart.
Upon hearing the news that the declaration of war had been delivered to the U.S.
after the attack on Pearl Harbor had already begun, Adm. Isoroku Yamamoto
stated this, "I fear all we have done is awakened a sleeping giant and filled him
with a terrible resolve."
Explain how the events of Pearl Harbor and 9/11 brought about a national unity
that has not been seen since. How did each event awaken the country from its
slumber (our false sense of security), provide a sense of resolve, and bring
seemingly far away events into this home we call America? Why do you believe
we have failed to come together as a nation since then?
What is an event or persons that you beseve we should be memorializing, but have
not done so to this point, and why? Why do you believe we haven't done so and
how would you memorialize the event or person that you chose?