It's interesting what sticks in our childhood memories. In 1980, Jimmy Carter was president. I remember the Scholastic News ran an article about him and peanuts. The article told us to go home and tell our parents to vote. I remember having a conversation with my mom about Reagan and Carter. I remember being sad when Reagan won because I thought that we wouldn't have peanut-butter anymore. That year my teacher had our class sing a patriotic song every morning before we recited the pledge of allegiance. She would pound out a jovial tune on the piano as we sang in our six-year-old voices.
On December 7th, my teacher gave us a different morning presentation. She told of Pearl Harbor. She played us a record (yes, a blogger old enough to remember records) of Franklin D. Roosevelt making his "Day of Infamy" speech. I can still hear the scratches on the recording as I was cognizant of that voice and speech for the first time in my life. I remember that I was wearing a red corduroy jumper and brown shoes, and as I looked down at my braids I had two different colored rubber bands wrapped around the ends.
I remember looking at the United States flag hanging next to the chalkboard in the front of the classroom and thinking that the red in my dress matched the red on the stripes of the flag. I knew this morning was different. We didn't sing, after her presentation about Pearl Harbor, we placed our hands on our hearts and said the pledge and took our seats.
Do we even think about Pearl Harbor Day anymore? PearlHarbor
I wonder about Patriot's Day, the memorial day of September 11th. Forty years from now will Patriot's Day just be something celebrated in first grade classrooms?
I don't believe that we should remember these days to promote war, or to promote hate. We should remember these days to honor those who died... in defense of their country, or innocently as civilians. These are sacred days. Days of reflection. Days when the American conscious changed. We should remember them as such.
Today is also Letter Writing Day. If you would like to write to your elected officials here is a link link
If you want a reason to write to your elected officials check this out OreoCookiePresentation
