I remember visiting the Hiroshima memorial this summer – on the 40th anniversary of the bomb falling there in 1945, no less. And I remember being one of only a handful of Caucasian people there – possibly the only American. And I remember the waves of horror and shame and embarrassment and anger that washed over me again & again & again as I read about and witnessed what “my country” had done not too many years before. Indeed the sheer evil of the deed sunk into my bones and tattooed my psyche for life. I remember my host family being so concerned over my extended silence on the ride home. And I remember that this was the day when I unwittingly vowed to fight injustice wherever it was found – and that this was the day when I personally broke all personal ties with the wicked conglomerate still known as the United States of America …

“So, let us be alert in a twofold sense: Since Auschwitz we know what man is capable of. And since Hiroshima we know what is at stake.” ~ Viktor Frankl

“Let all remember well that Hiroshima and Nagasaki were atomized at a time when the Japanese were suing desperately for peace.” ~ David Dellinger

“I shall write peace upon your wings, and you shall fly around the world. So that children will no longer have to die this way” ~ Teshima Yusuke

Filed under: My Life in Pictures by Scaughdt