The following is a letter from Mike Becker - Hartington, Nebraska - it really should touch your hearts as it did mine. Some times we do not give young men and women (kids) the respect they deserve - we are too quick to point out the bad in them, not the good. This letter from Mike indicates to me that we need to share more with our young men and women about our glorious and historic past and stop making excuses on how negligent our country has been. God Bless them for showing their feelings while visiting Pearl. I did not edit Mike's letter - I posted it here just as I received it - you can really tell it came from his heart.
Hi there. I know this isn’t what you’re looking for, but I felt compelled to share it with you anyway. I’m only 50, so wasn’t around for 1941. I never served in the military as the Vietnam draft had just concluded about a year before I became eligible. But onto what I wanted to share…
This past summer I was fortunate enough to accompany my son and about 50 other track athletes from around the US to travel to Australia for an international track meet. For the most part, these kids were from 16-18 years of age. They were a fun-loving and outgoing bunch of youth that really represented our country very well.
As part of their tour in July, on the way home they were routed to Honolulu for three days of fun and sun. I don’t remember if the entire group was required to tour Pearl Harbor, but I know that a vast majority of them did. When I signed up for the Pearl Harbor tour (I had not ever been to Hawaii), I visited with the guy doing the signups. He was a native of Hawaii and I got to discussing Pearl Harbor with him.
He said that his dad was Japanese and was working in Pearl Harbor on the day of the attack. He said “In fact, he was a crane operator and they (authorities) wouldn’t let him down for 3 days after the attack. They would bring food and water up to him, as they needed him to help clear the wreckage from the harbor.”
The same person was also our tour guide for the Pearl Harbor tour on the bus, and he did an incredible job.
But what wanted to share with you is what really struck me about the tour (other than the absolute destruction and lives that were lost in the attack), were the kids themselves. As I’d stated before, they were a very fun-loving and outgoing group of kids. They were always joking around with each other and having a very good time with the coaches and adult chaperones.
But when we got to Pearl Harbor, their attitudes changed 180 degrees. They were very withdrawn and maybe more inquisitive than anything else. And when we boarded the boat to ferry us to the Arizona Memorial, their attitudes changed even more… if that is possible. Not one of them said a word as they were ferried over to the memorial. They were very reverent and understood the meaning of the events of that terrible day. They were as serious as I’d ever seen them – even more serious than when they were when they participated in their events in the track meet in Australia. Not one of them cracked a smile nor a joke. They were at the “ground zero” of the WWII era (Hiroshima and Nagasaki notwithstanding).
I just wanted to share with you how proud I was of not only the servicemen that gave their lives that day, but also how proud I am of the young American teenagers that came face-to-face with something so terrible. Yes, these days they typically have headphones on and listen to their music while their noses are in their cellphones texting their friends. But this was not one of those days.
Not only was I, myself, proud of the servicemen who gave their lives and those who survived, but I was also proud of our teenagers, many who may have realized for the very first time the sacrifices made before them so they could live with freedom. It was a moment that I will never forget.
Thanks again for “listening”. When you asked for stories, I just had to share my experience from this last summer, and the transformation of those young teenagers.
Have a very Blessed Christmas!
Mike Becker
I will also ask you to remember, "The Reason for the Season" - the birth of Christ.
Bud
The story of the teenagers visiting Pearl Harbor and being able to empathize with the only other attack on our soil is reassuring, though it brought a tear to my eye. They would have been 7-9 year-olds in 2001--an age group I've taught-- and just beginning to move into the rudimentaries of moral and intellectual reasoning.
ReplyDeleteI would place bets that we could count on this group of athletes for more than accomplishments in track should the need arise in our future.
Thanks for sharing!