Crusade for freedom never stops

Perhaps the bloodiest naval attack in history happened on Dec. 7, 1941. Without warning, Japan bombed Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, killing around 2,000 innocent people—soldiers and civilians—and thrusting America into the world war.

Soon, some parts of the Philippines were bombed, too.

And so we found ourselves being invaded by the Japanese, who used to preach that “Asia is for the Asiatics.”

For the next three years, we would live under the boot of ferocious enemies whose words absolutely contradicted their actions, depriving us of civil liberties and dominating us through violence and fear.

Never again should such a grisly, inhuman atrocity happen.

In today’s world where strongman leaderships are menacingly flying high, it is everyone’s responsibility to ensure that one of the darkest chapters of history cannot have a repeat.

On account of megalomania, power is attained and maintained at the expense of human lives, and the innocent becomes the primary victim of leaders who greedily want to have it all.

It is worth noting that, back then, the people of Japan willfully surrendered their freedom and dignity to devote their lives to their emperor.

The culpability lies not only in those who are in positions of power, but also in the citizenry who become blind to the evils committed glaringly.

A tyrant cannot succeed without a submissive citizenry in his grip. Our arch-enemy—the passion of the few to rule the many and accumulate so much wealth—is actually ever present.

That is why the crusade for freedom should never cease, for freedom is not free, it has to be fought for.

The attack on Pearl Harbor should remind us of the necessity for extreme, unceasing vigilance.

Ian Carlo L. Aragon, Cabuyao, Laguna