USS Arizona Remembrance – Pearl Harbor — February 2020

I was fortunate to be with a group of people who visited the USS Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor in February of this year and distribute purple orchids over the sunken ship. This shade of orchid is a symbol of respect. Ordinarily, no one is allowed to throw anything into the water at this shrine commemorating those lost on December 7, 1941. Our group was given a special dispensation to honor those at rest here in an authentic Hawaiian way.

If you have been here, you know what you are looking at. Oil has been seeping from the Arizona since it was sunk in 1941. No one knows when the oil will stop, nor was it expected to continue this long.

I chose to use this picture to not only commemorate those who have defended our country, but those who are on the front lines keeping our shores safe and free today, and those who are fighting for us against Covid-19. I am taking the liberty to go outside our beautiful area, redolent with history, because this image really speaks to me for its beauty and its meaning.