AMERICA'S DARKEST DAY

Americans have encountered much hardship and moments where it appeared there were no hope or no answers, somehow the past seven generations of Americans the past 245 years discovered not only ways to overcome their difficulties, but prosper better than before.

The current three generations which have achieved adulthood are like deer stuck in the headlights. The coverage and commemorations of the one year anniversary of the US Capitol Insurrection on Janaury 6, 2021 clearly show modern Americans have some understanding of why this moment qualifies as the newest Darkest Day in American History, but do not have the collective mindset strong enough to overcome the damage done to America and do what must be done to alleviate the damage.

Ironically, after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, it was Admiral Yamamoto who gave Americans their way forward: "I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve."

Yamamoto was partially Educated as a young Man in the United States and worked in the factories of what is now known as "the rust belt." He knew because his Fleet failed to sink or significantly damage the USS Enterprise Task Force, America would survive, rebuild and ultimately defeat Japan. What his fellows saw as a great victory in fact sowed the seeds for the destruction of Japan during World War II and Yamamoto knew it right then.

On August 9, 1974, Richard Nixon resigned the Presidency due to the Watergate Scandal. What was, at the time, the most devastating event in US History, Gerald Ford provided a profound Affirmation of America's Democracy:

"My fellow Americans, our long national nightmare is over. Our Constitution works; our great Republic is a government of laws and not of men. Here the people rule. But there is a higher Power, by whatever name we honor Him, who ordains not only righteousness but love, not only justice but mercy.
"As we bind up the internal wounds of Watergate, more painful and more poisonous than those of foreign wars, let us restore the Golden Rule to our Political process, and let brotherly love purge our hearts of suspicion and of hate."

The night after the September 11, 2001 al Qaeda-gate attacks, George W Bush utilized SVC President Phil Sutton's "No Tolerance Terrorist Policy" which he developed for his Doctoral Dissertation in the 20th century to inform how his Administration would handle the most devastating attack on American soil since Pearl Harbor:

"The search is underway for those who are behind these evil acts. I've directed the full resources for our intelligence and law enforcement communities to find those responsible and bring them to Justice. We will make no distinction between the terrorists who committed these acts and those who harbor them."
In his Address on the 20th Anniversary of 9/11, President Bush aptly spoke of the regretful change in attitudes which the world had witnessed in America and Americans:

"In the weeks and months following the 9/11 attacks, I was proud to lead an amazing, resilient, united people. When it comes to the unity of America, those days seem distant from our own. A malign force seems at work in our common life that turns every disagreement into an argument, and every argument into a clash of cultures. So much of our politics has become a naked appeal to anger, fear, and resentment. That leaves us worried about our nation and our future together."

Current Americans do not have the "pluck" of past generations and do not seem to know where they can discover the answers even though its right in front of their faces...