EUG's Ode to Pearl Harbor Day

Not sure about other bloggers but I know there are some days and weeks that just give my mind craps. Nothing flows, the brain is jammed.

I was having one those weeks. Until I abruptly remembered tomorrow was Pearl Harbor Day.

Coincidentally, my almost 16-year old son came home last week and announced he got his FIRST choice of May interim trip at his private school — Oahu!

My first reaction: Oahu, are you freaking kidding me?!

Let me add a precursor to this story, my son’s private school is wonderful, don’t get me wrong. We pay the price and it’s worth it. It’s a school that prides itself on the extracurricular and advanced curriculum it offers its young minds. 

Despite the glowing PSA, I was still shell shocked by the trip and cost. I was expecting maybe Moab (Southern Utah) or maybe something equally as magnificent. More importantly, I was expecting a trip that was a lot less expensive.

For the record, we are still deep in recession despite what Obama would have you believe about the economy he single handedly rescued from end-of-world doom in 2008.

And, regardless of whether you are the 99% or 1%, the economy and job growth still suck.

Okay, I digress. Then it occurred to me as we dive into December that my son was going to Oahu and would be visiting the Pearl Harbor Memorial. This so-called “interim” trip, it appears, might not just be about surfing, sun and bikinis after all. Culture and learning might just take place despite the ocean breezes.

I thought about the experience my son will have next May as he walks through the spectacular memorial on the water that honors the thousands of lives that were lost and injured on December 7, 1941.

I’ve never visited Oahu or the Pearl Harbor Memorial, and I am kind of sad about it. But, my son will and that’s what matters most to me especially as we so desperately try to regain America’s honor and pride in itself.

Despite his youth, my son will hopefully achieve a deeper level of understanding about the magnitude of what these brave men and women did that day to protect America from further harm despite the surprise attack.

My hope is that he takes his time and inquisitively wanders by the plaques, listens to the stories about the heroes and soaks up the World War II history of a nation that despite the daunting odds, fought back on two sides of the world for freedom and won.