9/11 and "Pearl Harbor."

My wife and I were sitting in our living room when our youngest son called and told us to turn on the TV.  We watched in stunned disbelief as fire and smoke billowed from the first-struck tower and then in complete incredulity as the second airplane hit the other tower.  We watched them crumble almost unable to believe we were watching reality.

In driving around town that day, and for a few days afterward, we were struck by how quiet things were.  Traffic seemed to move with less rancor.  Our flag store literally sold out all their American flags.

But having said that, I believe that if you asked anyone in their 70's or 80's they would tell you that the attack on the Twin Towers did not have as much emotional impact on them as did the Japanese sneak attack on Pearl Harbor.  More people died on 9/11, but America was a different country, in a very different time in 1941.  Pearl Harbor enraged us, I believe, more than did 9/11.

By December 10, 1941 men were lining up outside the military recruiting stations to enlist, put on a uniform and go get "those Japs."  As the Japanese Admiral Yamomoto said, "I fear we have done nothing but awaken a sleeping giant."  We mourned the loss of life at Pearl Harbor but the prevailing feeling was anger.  It seems to me that the prevailing emotion following 9/11 was and is, horror.  For a few weeks following the attack on Twin Towers there was a wave of patriotism.  That quickly dissipated and was replaced by partisan political debates.

The anger we felt following Pearl Harbor did NOT dissipate.  If anything it grew stronger.  Now, it seems to me, that the only commonly-felt emotion about 9/11 is horror and sorrow.  We don't have the commonly-felt desire to punish those who attacked us.