Remembering Pearl Harbor and the lessons that live on

For anyone who has ever visited the USS Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor, one of the most powerful sights is the steady drips of oil that continue to float to the surface from the sunken battleship. I first visited the memorial in 1997, and when I returned to it with my family this past summer, the thing I anticipated most was whether I would again see those tiny oil sheens drift to the surface. Sure enough, I did.

No one knows for certain when the final drip of oil will leave the Arizona. The drips are called by some the Arizona's "black tears," and legend has it that they will finally stop when the final survivor of the Arizona passes away and joins his sunken fellow sailors in the afterlife.

Drips of oil floating to the surface from the USS Arizona in August 2016

In addition to being a powerful reminder of what happened on the date of infamy 75 years ago today, I see those drips of oil as a living lesson for today's generation of Americans about our people's resilience in the face of terrible tragedy and adversity and capacity to overcome any challenge.

For many, the election campaign and results this year have brought on a sense of dread and despair about the state of affairs in America and what the future holds. While much of that angst is understandable and justified, it's also important to remember that it doesn't come close to what America faced in the aftermath of Dec. 7, 1941.

It's easy in retrospect to view America's triumph in World War II as inevitable, but that outcome seemed anything but inevitable after Pearl Harbor. America was a much weaker nation in 1941, still struggling to emerge from the blows of the Great Depression. Its military paled in comparison to the great European nations, and its Pacific naval fleet was in shreds after the disaster at Pearl Harbor. Hitler continued control much of the European continent. Japan's naval superiority meant it would spend months conquering the Pacific unimpeded, bringing it nearly to the shores of Australia.

In the months that followed Pearl Harbor, things would only get worse. There would be the Bataan Death March and defeats throughout the Pacific. It would be nearly a year before America could muster the strength to directly confront Hitler, and years before it would be able to launch the D-Day invasion that would ultimately lead to final victory in Europe. The great victory at Midway in 1942 would be the turning point in the Pacific, but three years of terrible island-hopping battles still lay ahead.

Whether are not you think that America is great today, it certainly did not look great in any way, shape or form on Dec. 7, 1941. But from the ashes of that tragedy arose the seeds of the "Greatest Generation" that saved the world from fascism and turned America into a superpower.

Of course, the lessons from World War II weren't all great. The internment of the Japanese-Americans was an injustice that continues to stain our nation to this day. My own relatives of Italian ancestry were also subjected to unjust discrimination, being forced to move from Alameda because of the Navy base there and fears of sabotage. And, of course, the unity of purpose that the Pearl Harbor attack created did not extend to African-Americans, who continued to be discriminated against and were victimized in the Port Chicago munitions disaster.

In the end, America would emerge from World War II a much greater nation than it was before but one nevertheless still flawed and beset by challenges and injustices. That is the story of our existence, a continual march toward a perfection that is always elusive. But as we look toward the challenges of today and decide whether to meet them with optimism or pessimism, let us also remember where we stood on Dec. 7, 1941 and how we met the grief and despair that followed Pearl Harbor.

America was great on Dec. 7, 1941. We just didn't know it yet.