Sixty-five years ago today, at precisely 8.15am on the morning of August 6th 1945 the first atom bomb 'Little Boy' exploded on Hiroshima and 140,000 people died. Many more thousands suffered the effects of radiation and many are suffering still. Maybe at this time when there is still conflict around the world - all of it pointless, useless and causing huge amounts of unnecessary suffering - people killed, maimed, families bereaved - for what? - it is time to remember.
My first husband (Dominic's father) would not have lived had it not been for that bomb. He was suffering from cerebral malaria in a jungle prison-of-war camp in Thailand and was amongst the first prisoners to be airlifted out to India when the war ended. But even he would often question whether his survival was worth 140,000 deaths.
So just for a moment today let us all just pause and remember. And if you can get your hands on today's edition of the Times, then read the article about one survivor. The survivors are still suffering - what have we done to our world?
So very true.
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Do you know, Weaver, I've been sitting here feeling sorry for myself all morning: a bug has stolen my week and left me feeling groggy and feeble; I keep being thrown off the internet; the weather is dark, wet and cold, and business stuff won't leave me alone to gather my thoughts: all of this now feels like whining about having too much icing on my cake, thank you. I will read that article on-line if my connection allows.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry to hear about your first husband. It brings the whole thing of war so much closer to home and the unspeakable legacy of Hiroshima, as you say, it lives on and on.
ReplyDeleteThanks Weaver, for this timely and sobering reminder.
I've been feeling a little badly-done-to this week. I think I'll take some time tonight to remember just how lucky I am. Thanks for reminding me.
ReplyDeleteAnd what do we continue to do?
ReplyDeleteI have often pondered on how clever man is with the advances in medical science and other areas of modern life, yet we have lost innumerable ancient skills and wisdom and still not found a way to settle our differences other than to kill each other and inflict horrible suffering. Not so clever after all I think.
ReplyDeleteIt seems that lessons are never truly learned.
ReplyDeleteIf nothing else, it taught the world just how devastating the atom bomb was, Weaver, and why we can never consider its use again.
ReplyDeleteAs Eryl Shields and MorningAJ I have let this week get on top of me. Thank you for putting things back into perspective.
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weaver thanks for reminding. i'm not unusual in that i don't like to dwell on the sad, the unnecessary and especially on suffering. but i think that remembering informs our current efforts to work away from conflict wherever possible. have a peaceful day in the dale. steven
ReplyDeleteThis morning I worked on a manuscript about the adverse effects of radiation exposure in medical procedures, and one of the references was a study by authors who followed survivors of bomb. Your posts almost always give pause for thought -- especially today. On the other hand, even though a large patch of son's hair has fallen out because of radiotherapy, it may save his life.
ReplyDeleteThanks for this posting, Pat. If only the remembering would bring an end to the insanity of war. It never does, of course, but it is incumbent upon those who are spared the ravages of war to always sound the alarms, to do what they can to encourage peaceful resolutions of conflicts.
ReplyDeleteThere is no point to aggression. Peace is a journey down a path we all need to be traveling. Thank you for reminding us to value what we have, Weaver. Enjoy your day today.
ReplyDeletePeople often say Hiroshima was so terrible we'll never be able to countenance dropping another nuclear bomb on anyone.
ReplyDeleteIn fact, we did, on August 9th, on Nagasaki - days after the first one.
What indeed Weaver, what indeed.
ReplyDeleteThank you for taking the trouble to leave a comment - as always - I do appreciate it.
ReplyDeleteJust as an aside, 2 Pacific theater battles had greater civilian casualties than Hiroshima (80,000 civilian casualties) - the Battle of Manila has 100,000 civilians casualties, and Nanjing had 300,000.
ReplyDeleteNot to diminish the horror, but the Japanese has vowed to fight to the last man if the fighting came to their homeland and Allied casualties were estimated at 500,000 if an invasion was necessary.