We Remember

Disasters, like any event, have attributes derived from the sting that holds each event in our memories. Their impact can be such that they instill a wariness in our collective DNA. And, sometimes those can fade as the generation that lived the experience passes on. An example is Pearl Harbor. That generation is all but gone. We remember December 7th as a nation, but few are left that can recall the surprise of an unprovoked and deceptive attack; the horror of wholesale destruction that cost 2,403 lives—both military and civilian, along with images of smoldering remnants of a once-proud fleet at anchor; and the ensuing fear that followed for months in anticipation of an Imperial Japanese invasion on the mainland. 

USS Arizona ablaze. Public domain.

My father served in World War II, so much of the wartime feelings he shared stay with me. I've certainly passed much of that on to my sons, but will their children even acknowledge the event ever happened—or understand what led to it and its lasting impact on current foreign policy? 

Hard to say.

More locally, Galveston, Texas recently observed the anniversary of the worst natural disaster to strike the United States—the 1900 storm that virtually wiped much Galveston off the map. Estimates put fatalities somewhere between 6,000 and 12,000. Much of the country is ignorant of that event but Texans, particularly those who live along the Gulf Coast, well understand the meaning and caution of that moment in history. A completely unsuspecting and unprepared population lie in the path of a horrific storm. It unleashed biblical damage and death from massive storm surge and winds. Imagine a struggle for survival so intense, so horrifying, that your entire personality might change as a consequence. 

Broadway Ave. Rosenberg Library

The next day, survivors emerged from the wreckage—the ruin. Few structures remained intact. Corpses, both human and animal, were everywhere. Disease, stench, starvation, and depression hovered a once-thriving metropolis anticipated to one day rival Manhatten. Gone--never to recover its fleeting glory. No one is left to give a first-person account of that night. We learn from diaries, interviews, and images. Still, when clouds gather in the Gulf, the memory stirs within. There've been subtle reminders from nature--Hurricane Carla in 1961, Hurricanes Rita and Katrina in 2005, Ike in 2008, and Harvey in 2017. Most recently, Laura in 2020. So in this case, we can imagine to some degree and identify with devastation.

Today we remember 911—another manmade surprise. Another out-of-the-blue disaster no one saw coming. It shares attributes most notably with Pearl Harbor. Lives lost were 2,977—and one might argue everyone an innocent. Like Pearl Harbor, 911 is a part of our foreign policy DNA. We are mortified by appalling images: People plunging to their deaths; towers aflame and collapsing on those in the streets below; a smoldering maw in the Pentagon; and a crater with remnants of Flight 93, not to mention the gut-wrenching recordings to loved ones before the crash. This one is still fresh in our collective memory. 

For each disaster, an iconic image emerges. For 911, the World Trade Center towers symbolize the day, in particular, the moment right before a second plane strikes one tower while the other spews flame and smoke from the prior collision. This now gives earlier pictures of the towers a ghostly, morbid feel. For the 1900 storm, one image stands out—Gresham's Castle, a virtually lone standing structure ruin and timber from an entire island laid waste. And, of course, Pearl Harbor leaves us with its indelible image of a mutilated battleship Arizona engulfed in black smoke and flames.

I started this intent on a completely different direction. Well, that was abandoned. So if this is going anywhere, maybe it's simply this: These events and images symbolize the worst—the worst in nature, the worst in ourselves. But then, on the flip side, comes the best in ourselves. Because humankind is really never at its best unless things are at their absolute worst. And that is worth remembering.