Pearl Harbor: Lessons for Missile Defense Today

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1941, Christmas, December 7, Pearl Harbor, spirituality

On this day 71 years ago,
the U.S. was attacked by the Empire of Japan.
At the time, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt declared it a
“date which will live in infamy.”

The attack shocked the nation and exposed just how unprepared and vulnerable the United States was. Today, we commemorate the soldiers and citizens who lost their lives in the attack and their families, who were left without their sons and daughters in the difficult time that followed.

The Pearl Harbor attack remains a stark reminder that conventional deterrence is not sufficient. U.S. adversaries are not always rational; after all, the Japanese generals knew that the attack would only “awaken a sleeping giant.” Yet they decided to attack anyway. The attack vividly demonstrates how important it is to be prepared to avoid another Pearl Harbor–like attack in the future.

U.S. vulnerability to a ballistic missile attack could provoke one such attack. It would take an intercontinental-range ballistic missile launched from anywhere in the world about 33 minutes to reach the U.S. homeland—and only a couple of minutes if a shorter-range missile is launched off a ship near the U.S. coast.

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Art that’s Out of This World! Check it out!

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"life lessons", Art, gift form God, Jesus, paiting, seers, spiritual, spirituality, visionary

Incredible gift or … ?

Figuratively Speaking: Seasons Come and Seasons Go

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"figuratively speaking", "life lessons", autumn, changes, chaos, order, personal, season, seasons, spirituality, spring, summer, winter

Anyone else seem to move along with the seasons … having seasons in your personal life? Not like child, teen, adult … not those kinds of seasons, but … annual seasons …

SPRING: a time of growth, upheaval, passion, zest, energy, dreams, planting

SUMMER: a time of testing, endurance, faith, struggle

AUTUMN: changes, fruitfulness, reaping, , up-rooting, preparation, vision

WINTER: “death”- figurative, i.e deep struggle leading to resolution, surrender, rest, glimpses of new visions, thus anticipation!

It seems my life follows this pattern pretty regularly … It is both a comfort AND it is also sobering. I generally life patterns. I find them, yes, comforting. It is reassuring to know that winter does come to an end. The frosty edge on the day does soften as the temperatures slowly, and sometimes begrudgingly warm. And just when I think I cannot possibly endure another chill, the bright spring sun warms me through and through and all is well. The earth blossoms again, and color returns in the form of green trees and shrubs, pastel flowers and the azure sky. Spring.

Then, almost before I know it, I’m sweating. The heat of the same sun beats down, quietly pounding me until I must bow like the cracked earth baked under the summer sun. For days the sun pounds me, breaking everything the previous seasons have shaken loose, all in a healthy “pruning” sort of way. Summer.

The heat seems unbearable and unending. Then, right on time, a leaf changes color. More leaves change color and soon there is a shower of leaves swirling around tossed by a gentle breeze. Aromatic fragrances waft through the trees bringing with it the scent of apples, pumpkins, and spices. A hint of smoke hangs in the air, and it dawns on me the air is cooler. Autumn.

The leaves are piled in the slumbering flowerbeds. The chilled edge has made a silent approach. The trees tremble in their nakedness at the bleak outlook. Color has fled. Black and white with shades of grey paint the panorama. Life itself hides at the sternness of the cold. In sheltering caves life tucks itself away to wait for the passing of the season. Winter.

Seasons are NOT coincidence! They are a means of order in an otherwise chaotic sequence of days, weeks, and months.

This is me. Anyone else recognize patterns, or seasons in their life?

The Seasons Within

HOPE

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"life lessons", hope, life, new, past, poem, poetry, restoration, spirituality

On the floor by the door,

Lay the pieces of my life,

Bits of broken dreams,

Shattered by his schemes:

Innocence wasted, deceit tasted,

Hope deferred.

But somehow from the ruined scraps,

Something new conceived,

Holy and ancient, Hope,

Rekindled in the ashes of my dreams:

Bits of broken glass,

Released finally to the past,

Dustpan used, brokenness fused,

Hope restored.

bjb2002