The war is long over. The men responsible for planning and carrying out the attack have long since either been sent by other men, or taken by the inexorable process of time, to face their last and most perfect Judge. None the less, it is fitting that we remember the fallen, and also to take the lesson of history to heart: it is precisely when we are at our most comfortable in our own security that we are most open to sudden attack.
Even worse, we can become complacent about the attack itself. If we gloss over the horrors of it all, if we cease to read the stories and view the pictures and films, we can deceive ourselves into believing that it wasn't really so bad, and if it happens again, big deal, we'll get over it and move on.
It both honors the lost and reinforces the lesson to be completely honest about what happened. This is sometimes a hard thing. Even in the weeks immediately following, full and frank accounts of the event were deemed too "graphic" for the public.
(The parallels to 9/11 are plainly present, but are not germane; it would be a distraction to detail them here.)
This Honolulu reporter's account is one such; it took seventy-one years to get it into print.
http://seattletimes.com/html/nationworld/2019849572_pearlharbor07.html
