"Daily Routine"

I got up at around 5:00AM this morning, pretty regular for me. Simon, my dog, was ready for food and a walk. We went downstairs and he waited patiently as I filled his food bowl and changed his water dish. After he ate, we went outside. It was cold and crisp at 5:00 am; it was quiet, very still. I saw the grey pick-up truck that always goes by on our morning walk, I saw our newspaper delivery lady and waved as she went by; she's very nice. Simon picked out some prime property and did his business. We cleaned up and went home. This is a normal start of most of my days. Each of us has a routine, a regular way of doing things, familiar actions which we become accustomed to in our daily lives. I don't like to vary from my daily routine. I like having a set schedule in order to accomplish the things I want to during the course of a day.

We like the security of "the usual thing" each day. I like my morning coffee, the news on television and a regular breakfast. Children rise, complain, get dressed and go to school; they even have their set routines each day. Sometimes the smallest thing can change the entire outlook for us on any given day. A late newspaper, running out of coffee or missing a bus can alter our attitude for the rest of our day.

Sixty-nine years ago, on a Sunday, people of America got up and began their daily routines. Some were cooking breakfast, some were on their way to church and some were just rising from sleep. No one was expecting anything unusual to happen on that day. America was at peace. We were sending help to our friends in England, as they battled the NAZI threat, but we weren't militarily involved in the conflict in Europe. On a balmy morning in our furthest western territory, it was peaceful; our Pacific Fleet was resting comfortably in Pearl Harbor when the Imperial Japanese Navy launched an unprovoked attack on the United States. We were caught flat-footed, like a boxer not expecting to be hit. Japanese fighters gave us a devastating body blow; we didn't see it coming.

Across America, the news spread like wildfire. America went from peaceful routine to anger, sorrow and resolve. It is rumored that Hitler was extremely upset with the Japanese; he didn't want America in the war just yet. The Empire of Japan awakened a sleeping giant and now they would incur his wrath. The act of the Japanese probably was the key to the Allied victory in WWII. Had we not entered the war at that time, Hitler could have achieved victory in Europe; Britain couldn't have held out very much longer. Without a free England, we would have nowhere to launch an invasion on the European Continent; then Europe belonged to Hitler. In a way, the Japanese helped us save the world by their ill-advised aggression on that December morning. They disrupted our "routine" and changed the course of history. America woke up and the world benefited. I hold those members of that GREATEST GENERATION in high esteem, because of them, we are still America today!