Hiroshima and the Peace Museum

This was possibly the hardest place for me to visit on our trip. It seemed that way for many.

It makes me sick to think that the United States, or any country, really, would inflict that much damage on another country simply to prevent the same from happening on its home soil. I do not in any circumstance believe that we are better or more important than another country of human beings. It is our duty to attempt to get along and keep peace without severely damaging our fellows.

I realize that we come from a long history of war and conquest. Japan is dealing with the guilt from events like the Rape of Nanking. In the past, they had denied these actions. Students would come to the United States and fall to tears saying that the lessons we were learning about such events were lies. But now, as stated on a panel in the Peace Museum, Japan is reanalyzing its text books and trying to take ownership of its actions. And, in a way, by doing this and calling attention to it, Japan is challenging other countries to do the same. The United States must take ownership for the bombing of Japan, for the slave trade, for numerous terrible deeds against fellow humans. Germany must take ownership of the holocaust. China must take ownership of the White Terror. Rwanda, the genocide. The Middle East and the Taliban, the terrorist attacks. Spain, the inquisition. We have caused so much damage and counted it as necessary for development, advancement, and survival. The Peace Museum was one of the first establishments I’d seen that attempted to call attention to the pain and the hardships – the damage – without placing blame on a country or group of people, and challenged all people to step up and make a difference. With the number of people who were moved by the peace museum and who signed the dialogue book with peace signs and kind words, it makes me wonder how many actually meant it and will follow through with it.  

I truly agreed with what Andy said as we discussed the experience later: It’s not that I feel responsible for the bombing in Hiroshima. I was not alive for the event and had no part in what had happened. My tears are for the fact that it seems there will always be war, and war will always lead to destruction and death of innocents, and war will always be horrible. My tears are because I wonder why we must even go there.

I fear for the new technology that we have developed. The atomic bombs allowed us to kill on a massive scale and took some of the personal aspect out of war. Now we have drone technology and automated weapons that further remove us from the battle field. As we forget what it means to kill another human being, I fear to what end we will lead our world.

I hope that all who walk through the Peace Museum at Hiroshima, or any war memorial, can also feel these thoughts and fears, take them to heart, and react by trying to make a difference.