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Welcome to Stuff I Learned Yesterday. My name is Darrell Darnell, I have never driven a boat, and I believe that if you aren’t learning, you aren’t living. In today’s episode of Stuff I Learned Yesterday I reveal some of the ways I was inspired by my visit to the USS Arizona Memorial.
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What I Learned Yesterday:
I have a confession to make. I’m making this episode up as I write. Yes, I normally write out each of these episodes and record my reading of them. Before I put fingers to my keyboard, I typically have a mental outline of where I want to take the story. Not today. I thought I did. But then that outline was abandoned.
I had what I thought was a pretty good angle on the attack on Pearl Harbor, the ensuing US involvement in WWII, the bombings on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and the rebuilding of Japan after the war. However, I decided that there were a lot of things about those events that I don’t know so it would be good for me to do some research first. That research led to more research, which led to more research, which led to even more research. For nearly three hours now I’ve been reading articles looking at photographs, and watching videos. Here’s what I learned: There are a lot of complex, controversial, and debated issues within these topics.
I now feel like insight I can offer about these events would be ignorant and too incomplete to be considered beneficial. Am I being too critical of myself? Probably.
Instead, I want to offer my point of view. I’m not offering it up as being anything other than that. I hope that my point of view, and the things that I have observed will resonate with you and strike a positive chord.
You see, pretty much as far back as I can remember, I’ve been inspired by Japan. As a kid that grew up in the 80’s I was 40 years removed from those events. The Japan that I knew was the one that made Walkmans, televisions, cool cars, and video games. I knew that Japan had once been devastated by two nuclear bombs. As a kid I didn’t know how big the bombs were or how big Japan was, but I was amazed and inspired that a country that was much smaller than the country I called home could be hit by the biggest attack in the history of the world and somehow rise from those ashes and be making cool stuff that filled my living room. I imagined that Japanese people must have a great inner strength and pride.
I still feel that way.
From the American point of view, I knew that the Japanese had pulled off and epic sneak attack on Pearl Harbor that destroyed a fleet of ships, flattened hundreds of airplanes, and killed thousands of Americans. I knew that as a result, Americans rose up, filled with national pride and determination to overcome those who had attacked us. I knew that we eventually one the war that we became a part of after that Sunday in December, 1941.
During my recent visit to Oahu I knew that before I came back home, I had to visit the USS Arizona Memorial. As I mentioned in episode 51 of Stuff I Learned Yesterday, despite having a dad and Uncle that served in the Navy and a grandfather who served in the Army, I really didn’t think much of our service men and women. It’s not that I didn’t like them or respect them, I just didn’t appreciate them. That changed when my brother joined the Army and served two tours in Iraq.
I didn’t want my kids to grow up with the same lack of true appreciation and respect that I did. I wanted them to see and understand the bravery and sacrifice of our military.
When we arrived at the memorial we picked up the tickets we had reserved and began to look around. We looked around the bookstore for quite a while. We looked at models of various ships, posters that chronicled various events of that day, studied maps, and let the kids read some books. They loved the bookstore. We had to drag them out of it, and they kept begging to go back.
We then spent a few minutes in the museum while we waited for our time to tour the memorial. Once our scheduled time arrived, we were ushered into a theater where we watched a 25 minute documentary on the events that led up to the Pearl Harbor attack, the attack itself, and some of the events that followed. It was amazing. The theater was filled with people from all nationalities from all around the world. Once the film was over the lights came on, the side doors of the theater opened up, and we all exited the theater to board the boat. I was moved by the presence in the theater. As the lights came up and people exited, it was completely silent. Everyone seemed to be filled with a sense of awe, respect, and reverence by what we’d just seen. My kids had questions, but even they realized that that moment was not the appropriate time to ask them.
Once we boarded the boat we made the short trek across the water and docked at the USS Arizona Memorial. As we grew nearer to the memorial we could easily see the wrecked remains of the battleship below the water. We made our way around the memorial, looking out both sides to see the wreckage below. I made sure that both kids understood that what we were looking upon was not just a sunken vessel, it was the grave of over 1100 men who were still in the waters below us. That reality was made a bit more clear when we entered the back portion of the memorial which lists the names of the fallen.
Soon the next boat arrived and we were taken back to the main part of the island.
Honestly, the whole experience was surreal. I wish I’d had more time there. I was moved by the reality of seeing the tomb of the USS Arizon crew. I was moved by the reverence shown by all of those on the tour with me. I was moved by the things I saw in the bookstore.
But here’s what I learned.
As we walked around the grounds of the Pearl Harbor Memorial, I was struck by its beauty. Trees and other plants have been carefully arranged along winding pathways that take you to various markers that have been erected with placards to explain their purpose and history. The clear blue waters of harbor flank the western side of the memorial, and it really is inspiring.
And that brings me back around to the point I wanted to make before I started all that research.
Pain is real. Tragedy is real. Suffering is real. Devastation is real. It comes in various ways at various times, but comes to all people.
In the days, weeks, and months after the attack on Pearl Harbor, I know that Americans put on a strong face and mustered up all their resolve, but I have to think that there were moments when people were filled with fear, overcome by feelings of despair, overwhelmed by the great sense of loss, and frozen by not being sure where to put their next step.
Likewise, I’m sure the people of Japan felt the exact same way as they looked upon their leveled cities, the mangled bodies of their friends and loved ones, and stood dumbfounded as to where their next meal would come from.
Fortunately, beauty lives in ashes. Hope finds life in despair. Ingenuity leaps from rubble. Healing comes from wounds. Just as pain, tragedy, suffering, and devastation come upon all people, so does beauty, hope, ingenuity, and healing. I don’t know if you’re in a spot today where you don’t know where to put your next step, but if you are, may the beauty that has risen from this great conflict give you inspiration. If today is not your day of despair, rejoice. Better yet, put an arm around someone who is in that dark place and help them back to a place of light.
I’m Darrell Darnell and this has been stuff I learned yesterday.
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