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12/08/2003: "Pearl Harbor Day"

I'm a big fan of the History Channel. Today, my mind whirling with computer-aided reenactments and debunked myths concerning December 7th, 1941, I'm taking a few moments to consider the exhaustive coverage of historic anniversaries by the History Channel over the last few weeks. First we had September 11th on its second anniversary, then the 40th anniversary of the Kennedy assassination, and now Pearl Harbor with hardly a break in MAJOR historical event coverage. I have to hand it to them, but, as a viewer, I find that I'm suffering from "debunked myth" and "computer simulation" overload. My head is swimming with data. I remember that with today's technology a battlefield is like a crime scene, and we can uncover the historical facts, no matter how long ago the battle, or how deep underwater the evidence. Also, I think I remember that Lyndon Johnson did it, but I can't remember what it was that he did. It was something about a blond or a midget submarine. Click more.. below.

Anyway, these events have kind of run together, and, with all that information churning around, there is a tendency to lose historical perspective. We all know that's why historians are different than journalists, right? One needs a certain "distance" to sort things out. So I clicked off the TV and got myself a fresh drink. I took out a pad of paper, a pen, and a calculator. I calmed and then emptied my mind. Breathing deeply and rhythmically, I picked up the pen and wrote:

12/07/41 - Pearl Harbor Day
11/22/63 - John F. Kennedy's assassination
09/11/01 - terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon

Is there a significant historical relationship between these events?

Yes! It seemed to come to me out of nowhere; they are all bad things! Well, so much for that. I shook out a cigarette, lit it, and had a long pull on my drink, which was now watered-down. How about a mystical relationship, I thought? Numerology, that's it! I summed the digits in the date of Pearl Harbor Day and wrote:

15

I summed the digits in the date of John F. Kennedy's assassination. And again:

15

Cool! Oops, 09/11/01 only summed to 12. So much for that. I never thought that I would miss pyramids and Nazis. History is great; I just need a little distance.

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