History

We spent most of the day at Pearl Harbor and I couldn't help but feel a mixture of awe and disbelief that I was standing on such historic ground: where World War II started and ended, where many people made a lot of sacrifices and promises, where many dreams were shattered and later rebuilt. I got goosebumps standing on the battleship USS Missouri where Douglas MacArthur signed the surrender documents from Japan. It felt eerie and terribly heavy seeing the bullet holes on the windows of Hangar 79. I salute all the men and women who lived for what they believed in and died with honor for their countries.

I couldn't help but remember one of my history teachers saying that history is exactly that - his story. We know that there are as many stories as there are people, so are there just as many histories? There are always multiple perspectives and I couldn't help but wonder how history is told by professors in Japan. How did World War II look from their side of the Pacific Ocean? How different are the stories told on their own historic ground of Hiroshima and Nagasaki?

However different the stories, the lesson is loud: war totally divides and destroys everyone and everything in its path. Never forget, never again.