Sixty-four years ago today, the world’s first atomic bomb attack devastated Hiroshima and changed… everything.
I’m not here to say whether or not it was necessary then. Or whether or not nuclear weapons are necessary in today’s world. I’m not a historian and this is not a political blog. And frankly, I’m not sure I really know the answer.
Even though some of my ancestors were originally from Hiroshima, my parents were born in the United States, and so was I. The connection is distant, so I won’t pretend it means more than it does, even on this day. But when many years ago, my brother and uncle were trying to research the family tree, it was still an odd feeling to realize that there are some things we can never find out about that part of the family since the records were totally lost.
I was 18 years old when I visited Japan. There are many things about that trip that are almost lost in my memories after more than 30 years. Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park and Museum is not one of those lost things. A section of the main exhibit area holds artifacts from that day, all items belonging to young people of junior high and high school age who died in the blast or shortly thereafter. Young people, the same age or younger than I was then, who never got the chance to grow up. I don’t think I can ever forget that.
(Public domain photo from The Manhattan Project: An Interactive History – The Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima)
(NaBloPoMo | August ’09: 6 of 31 | 75% Challenge: 194 of 274)