Infamy - 07 December 2020 - Plague Journal Day 270

Micah 6:8
Exodus 21:12-14
Yes, your life matters.

We all are still sheltering in place, but I'm here to keep you sane and entertained.
One could hardly ask for much more than that, now could one?

Today, December 7, is a day that will live in infamy. This is the anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. It's the kind of attack that couldn't quite happen today - all the surveillance satellites and radar installations make it difficult to believe anyone could move a mass of ships and planes into position without being seen - but at least it was an actual military operation, attacking a naval base.

We need to remember the sacrifices made by those killed and wounded on that day 79 years ago, as well as those of the men and women who were then tested in the crucible of WWII thereafter. We can really have no idea what they endured, but we can be grateful and inspired by their example.

One of the things that we really can't understand it how out of contact families were during that war. Imagine your father / brother / husband / uncle / friend / mother / sister / wife / aunt being away in Europe or the Pacific when the only way to contact them was by writing a letter. Our son was in the Army and deployed to Afghanistan. We were incredibly fortunate that Skype was there, and we could see and hear him on a fairly frequent basis. I can only imagine how hard it would have been to write a letter, drop it in the mail, and then wait the weeks it would take to find the recipient, for a response to be written and posted, and then for it to arrive back States-side. They were made of strong stuff, our parents and grandparents. Today is Letter Writing Day, so why not look at another blast from the past? Write a letter to someone and post it today!

Keep Calm and Stay Away.
I'll be back tomorrow.
The mental health issues related to our lockdown and the pandemic are especially hard for people with depression. NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, has a 24 hour helpline: 800-950-6264.