The Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
On the morning on August 6, 1945, the United States dropped an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. Two days later, it dropped another atomic bomb on Nagasaki (Japan). According to Wikipedia, “Within the first two to four months of the bombings, the acute effects of the atomic bombings killed 90,000 to 146,000 people in Hiroshima and 39,000 to 80,000 in Nagasaki.” Not enough attention has been put on discharging the horror caused by the bombs and the fears installed on people all over the world. I encourage everyone to have a session on nuclear weapons. Here are some possible questions:
- When did you first learn of the bombings and how (from the media, from your family, at school, and so on)? How did you feel?
- How does the existence of nuclear weapons affect you today? How does it affect your hopefulness, your relationships, your powerfulness?
- If you are not Japanese, how have the bombings affected your relations with Japanese people or other Asians? If you are Japanese or Asian, how have they affected your relations with Westerners?
- What steps can you take to eliminate nuclear weapons?
There are many ways to learn more about the horrors of the bombings. John Hersey’s book Hiroshima is a good place to start. It was published in 1946 and tells the story of six survivors of the bomb dropped on Hiroshima. A later edition adds more to the original book.
I have also read some stories in Japan at War: an Oral History, by Haruko Taya Cook and Theodore F. Cook, first published in 1992.
With love, and gratitude for being with you in our project to make this world a better place,
Santa Barbara, California, USA
Reprinted from the RC e-mail discussion list for leaders of wide world change
(Present Time 185, October 2016)