American history, or really history in
general is not always marked with outstanding events, stunning
personalities or remarkable speeches. Much of the history of a great
nation is slow steady improvement, set backs and then how a people
recovers from those set backs. But in the context of American
history, there are a number of truly phenomenal moments when
everything changed. These are not just one day events, although some
are that sudden. But these are events that once they transpired,
Americans thought of themselves, the world and their place in the
world completely differently. And it’s worth noting what those
events were and how they changed Americans forever.
Obviously the revolution itself and the
founding of the country changed a small group of colonies who thought
of themselves as Englishmen far from home. When the independence of
America was done, that vision of ourselves was completely different.
We were now a proud new nation, a new type of nationality that had
its own view of the world and its own hopes and dreams as well.
World War II was the kind of event that
once we underwent the tremendous trial, struggle and victory that
such a war demands of a people, we never could go back to seeing
ourselves again in the same way as we thought before the war. Our
victory against Japan, Germany and their allies gave us tremendous
confidence that we could affect world history for the better. But it
also gave us a tremendous sense of responsibility. When we dropped
those bombs on Japan, everybody on the planet began to understand the
horrible power that was now in the hands of mankind, for a season in
the hands of America and the huge responsibility for the fate of
mankind that came with that kind of power.
Pearl Harbor while part of World War II
deserves its own mention because of the fundamental change to how
America viewed itself in relation to the world. Prior to that
attack, America considered itself invulnerable. Like a teenager that
thought they could never be hurt, we had never been attacked on our
homeland before. But Japan proved that they not only could attack us
but that they could hurt us very badly. Yes, we responded with a
fury but from that moment forward, we knew that we, like everybody
else in the world, were vulnerable and we had to start behaving
differently in a world full of both friends and enemies.
Outside of the military world, the
famous I Have a Dream Speech by Dr. Martin Luther King at the March
on Washington on August 28, 1963 did not just change the black
community forever. Yes, that speech had a mighty impact on the way
the African American community saw their future and it gave
inspiration and hope to a struggling civil rights movement that
spurred it on to victory. But it also affected all Americans because
we started to see ourselves as a community of many cultures, many
races and many orientations. It was the beginning of acceptance in
this country. But that is a process that is far from over.
In modern times, the attacks on the
World Trade Center on September 11, 2001 had a drastic effect on the
minds and hearts of America and indeed on the world. We are still
learning how that effect will finally show itself as the ripples of
shock, fear, anxiety and reprisals are still going on. But to be
sure, as with Pearl Harbor, the effects on our feelings about our
place in the world and our vulnerability were certainly be changed
forever.
