Has September 11 become the next December seventh?
Did that stump you? Well to make it a little clearer, Dec. 7 was when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor and sent our country into a war that we had sworn not to get involved in.
Pearl Harbor was the first real attack to ever occur against the United States. Thousands of navy men as well as civilians died in the Pacific that day. December 7, 1941.
That date was the subject of what would be one of my favorite speeches to ever be delivered, from one of my favorite presidents.
“Yesterday, Dec. 7, 1941 – a date which will live in infamy – the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan,” Franklin D. Roosevelt.
You would think that with the magnitude of the effects of the attack, the nation would not forget. But I challenge you to ask a random student if they know why Dec. 7 should be remembered and see what answer they give you.
The fear felt by this writer and other concerned Americans is that Sept. 11 is not far behind in the forgetfulness of the people. One reason that this causes concerns for me is the fact that this university is doing nothing in memoriam of that day.
This day when thousands of people died at the hands of terrorists, and caused our country to have to make some decisions that included a warlike mention. It is on this day that the university has chosen to do nothing.
I ask the question why? And how long will it be before, the words ‘what happened on Sept. 11?’ are heard as commonplace? I think it is a shame that there is no sort of anything to recognize this day as a day that should be remembered.
But before you get too mad at just our university, it is not alone. In fact, not one of the five Texas A&M system university are doing anything either. That list includes, A & M-Prairie View, A & M-Kingsville, A & M Corpus Christie, A & M-West Texas and even the motherland Aggies, A & M-College Station.
With all of the so-called patriotism that bloomed and the togetherness of the people after the attack, someone may have thought that it would have begun a new era for the United States.
An era that would mean change and a unity that would bring about a society that would work together for the common good.
But now seven years later, we have forgotten. Well maybe I am being unfair. Maybe we haven’t forgotten, but I mean come on, as big as 9/11 seemed to have been for our country why aren’t these universities, including our own, doing anything, kind of shameful if you think about it.
What I’m not saying is that we should all stand outside and cry for hours on end mourning those who were murdered. But why can’t we at least have a moment of silence or a presentation to show that they, those whose lives were taken, would not be so easily forgotten?
So in conclusion I call for the student body as well as the faculty and anyone else who is reading this article to at sometime during the day of please take a moment to remember what happened and remember our troops who over seas fighting, whether you agree why they are or not.