That special day

The day was last Tuesday, just like any Tuesday except on the evening before, in spite of the old grey matter which sometimes forgets, I remembered IT is a date that must never be forgotten, so I prepared to display IT on Tuesday. What's so special about that Tuesday?

Wait a minute, this 'cuff isn't to be about any Tuesday, it is to remember a day, a special day/date. Words called it a day that will live in infamy, and it does ... or does it now?

As I unfurled the flag last night (this is being written Tuesday morning before the sun arrived above the horizon into a new day, the day to remember: Pearl Harbor Day, Dec. 7, 1941). Has it really been 80 years since a sleeping people in the United States awoke to what was the most tragic event in the nation's history?

Last evening that grey matter kicked into high gear as that storehouse young brain began to remember the horrific announcement as it came on a battery-operated radio ... the room was silent, very silent. I remember that graphically and then words began to flow, words of fear and uncertainty and deep sadness as the voice on the radio managed to explain how thousands of service personnel were lost on land and in ships that were destroyed in Pearl Harbor.

There were no television screens to paint a graphic scene as could be seen if it happened today. In the coming days, the photos in the newspapers brought reality to small minds which hadn't ever been exposed to such a tragedy. And so, as the days and months and years turned over, the reality of it all formed many wartime pictures until that great day in August 1945 when the world-changing World War II finally was over.

Could we go back a little and remember there are fewer of those who can recall those long, worry-filled years when the entire nation was bound together in every possible way. Culture changed. Everyone did without many of the things that were usually rather easy to get even though the most horrible depression in history still had its claws into everyone's lives. There were ration books with stamps that were required to purchase many items such as sugar and, if I remember right, it was almost impossible to get a tire for your car and, since there was no family car, there was no stamp in a book. I remember that to get a new pair of shoes they had to be ordered weeks ahead. Little minds really didn't know the hardship to keep a family going.

Perhaps saying culture changed is wrong. The culture did form a huge mountain of patriotism, of helpfulness and love and understanding and also willingness to share rather than take. No wonder the shotguns were fired and celebrations filled the streets everywhere when the war ended. There was no burning of businesses!

One feeling that came to that grey matter last evening was how beautiful those red and white stripes unfurled as in a spring breeze while there in the corner forty-eight stars almost turned into bright sparkling spots in a field of blue.

As I look out the window, I see the flag waving in a strong southern breeze and I can see another waiving from across the way. I'm sure there are numerous "our-country flags" flying throughout Westside Eagle Observer country since our culture in these Ozark hills remains strong even though we sometimes hear so much bickering and division and name-calling that it is frightening. Isn't it time our true Republic-Democracy comes down to earth to be the nation that has been provided for us? Oh, there have been imperfections, but it's the most wonderful living land ever found in the world. Isn't the number of immigrants proof that we really have something going? Wouldn't it be wise to throw what the 'cuff calls "Meeooism" into the trash and stand up for the freedom that rings from every mountaintop?

One final thought involves an event that occurred twenty years ago on Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2001, and which was recalled and recognized September 11 of this year just ending. When four planes crashed into buildings and into a field, doing millions of dollars of damage and taking the lives of 3,000 people by the terrorist attack.

The United States came together in a united fashion which held for some time but in recent years has faltered, or at least it seems to. Seeing the destruction on television as it occurred should be implanted in the minds of everyone who saw and experienced the crisis.

The question on many minds is: What will it take to bind our borders together and our minds into one great patriotic and thankful mountain that will rebuild the enjoyment of freedom which has carried us so far? One great truth is a prominent saying: "Freedom is never really free." Cut off the free from the word and what do we have? We don't need that, now do we?

'Till next time.

Dodie Evans is the former owner and long-time editor of the Gravette News Herald. Opinions expressed are those of the author.