Peace
Visiting Hiroshima was hard. What made Hiroshima different than the other sites of former atrocities and hardships we’ve seen is that I somehow felt complicit, even though I wasn’t even born at the time America dropped two atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki to end World War II.
The A-Bomb Dome - the only building left standing in the hypocenter
Even though it was always something I knew intellectually, visiting Hiroshima made it really hit home that we Americans should never forget that there are serious implications counterbalancing all of the freedoms and powers our country possesses.
The remnants of a tricycle in the museum; this was one of the toughest things to view
But visiting Hiroshima, above anything else, was inspiring. Hiroshima’s Peace Museum doesn’t dwell on blame. I was impressed by the museum’s straightforward presentment of the facts: there was a World War; Japan was slow in admitting defeat; America dropped a nuclear bomb; much suffering occurred. People can debate what should have happened, whose fault it was, why it happened, whatever, but the museum gets right to the point. The people’s willingness to forgive Americans for causing all of the death, destruction and suffering was truly amazing.
Peace Bell in Peace Memorial Park
What we saw in Hiroshima was that any anger towards a really, really negative event was turned around and redirected towards something positive: the goal of peace and the abolition of all nuclear weapons. Today, instead of hate and bitterness, peace radiates all over Hiroshima from the hypocenter where the bomb was dropped so many years ago. Everything in Hiroshima is about peace: from the peace signs the youth flash when posing for a picture in Peace Memorial Park, to Peace Memorial Park, to Peace Boulevard, to displays in the Peace Museum urging abolition of nuclear weapons.
What struck me the most were the rainbow of paper cranes, hanging from memorials and statues all over the city, but especially in Peace Memorial Park.
When I was younger, I remember reading a book about a girl who was slowly dying in the hospital from leukemia as a result of exposure to radiation ten years before. Before she died, the story goes, she was trying to craft 1,000 paper cranes for peace. In the book I read, she didn’t finish her goal, but her classmates jumped in to finish. I’ve heard alternate versions of the story where she did finish.
Today, people from all over the world are still making paper cranes and delivering them to be displayed in Hiroshima. Today, Hiroshima is not a horrible event from 1946; it is a real, living breathing place with vibrancy, resiliency, and strong, forgiving people. That’s not to say that people don’t still hurt and suffer, because they do, but they’ve chosen peace as a means to propel them forward.
Oleanders bloom all over the city. They said it would be years before vegetation grew back, but against all odds, the oleanders sprung up in the spring.
An important reminder of world history. It’s important to see these sites and understand how they affect the people, and ourselves. It really wasn’t that long ago.
Amy, what a beautiful post. You bring tears to my eyes and a serenity to my heart. The tears are for the sadness and the serenity is that the people can rise above the darkest moment in their history, and through their forgiveness bring peace to those who came after ~ thereby teaching all some valuable lessons.
I remember the book ~ it was ‘Sadako and the Thousand Cranes’ ~ you read it in probably 4th grade for the Battle of the Books ~ who would have known that you’d get to see the peace cranes yourself one day…
Even I feel bad about what happened during the war and I am not even born in the USA. This reminds me of some of the exchange students from Germany who felt guilt about World War II and they were just 18 born close to the 21-st century. To all these people, including myself, I say: do not feel guilty – you can and you are a better person living in better times!
The best post so far….