I Heart Hiroshima

Everyone remembers what happened to Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7th, 1941 or as F.D.R. put it 'A Day that will live in Infamy'. On that day, Japanese Zeros surprise ambushed the U.S. Pacific fleet of 33 warships in Hawaii killing 2400 men. Today I visited the USS Arizona Memorial where oil still seeps to the surface from a sunken hull that entombs 1,177 bodies. It's a solemn place with a commemorative plaque, flagpole and a wall of military names in a special shrine room. However, I wasn't moved or affected or brought to tears had I might have been if I had not visited Hiroshima 2 weeks earlier. Coming to terms with the 200,000 plus innocent people who died because of the A-bomb in 1945, is mind numbing and mind altering. Exhibits of charred clothing, melted tires, photos of contorted bodies and an imprinted human shadow on granite steps is so heart-wrenching that it's now my comparison yardstick to judge other tragedies. Maybe that's unfair but before 2 weeks ago, Hiroshima was a nebulous city in a far-away land and today it resonates with me more than any other war-time tragedy. If I ever see a Warbirds airshow again or a documentary on World War II or even Movietone clips, it's the memories of Hiroshima I'll remember. Humans are humans are humans, wherever they might live, however they might think or feel and because survivors of Hiroshima carry no bitterness in their suffering, even 60 years later, they are a breed apart from most victums. They repeat their harrowing tales over and over again without casting blame or ill-will or resentment for the the U.S. The entire memorial is purely pacifist in it's aim to educate the world about the consequences of war and the use of nucleur weapons. I mean no disrespect to the hundreds of other memorials out there but Hiroshima holds a special place in my heart now.