Keeping You Posted ...: Hiroshima Part Ni ...

Our day of peace continued when we went to the Peace Memorial Museum, but I was in no way prepared for what we were going to see, or even more surprisingly, how I was going to feel.

I had voiced some concern, or some uneasiness, about being American and visiting the Peace Park in general, but everyone reassured me that there is no ill feeling towards Americans. I wouldn't get stared at or talked about or be made to feel unwelcome. That couldn't have been more true. I never once felt like that while I was there, but I did feel a whole slew of other emotions I was unprepared for. Overwhelming sadness, disbelief maybe. Shock over the magnitude of the destruction and the brutality of the bomb. I tried to take some perspective, but I just couldn't imagine. I couldn't even begin to grasp the concept. There weren't any politics behind my feelings, they were only my own.

It all started at 8:15am on August 6th 1945.

The sign says:

"The world's first atomic bombing took place at 8:15 am, August 6th 1945.

The destructive power of that bomb was incomparably greater than that of any previous bomb, and the massive amount of radiation released had devastating effects on human bodies.

With the development of this new weapon of mass destruction, the world entered a nuclear age."

Hiroshima at 8:14am

Hiroshima at 8:15am.

The bomb in proportion to the city of Hiroshima.

And the area of damage suffered.

The red area signifies the area that was totally collapsed and burned.

The pink area representing an area completely collapsed.

The yellow signifying the area half collapsed and burned and irreparably damaged.

The radius equaling over 5 kilometers, or over 3 miles.

One of the most amazing things I read said that just 3 days after the bombing, the Japanese had trains up and running to and from Hiroshima. Three days after they had started rebuilding not only their city, but their lives. Wow.

I stared at this picture for a long time.

"In the shade of trees and out in the blazing sun, teachers and students could be see diligently studying in classrooms made by placing the few surviving desks and chairs on straw mats on the ground. Open-air classrooms were common at many schools after the A-bombing, but they were not the pleasant break from regular classes we know today. The scene surrounding the students was utter devastation - the charred A-bomb desert punctuated here and there by the shells of terro-concrete buildings."
Number of Nuclear Weapons

Wikipedia (my best friend) says ...
"The Peace Memorial Museum collects and displays belongings left by the victims, photos, and other materials that convey the horror of that event, supplemented by exhibits that describe Hiroshima before and after the bombings and others that present the current status of the nuclear age. Each of the items displayed embodies the grief, anger, or pain of real people. Having now recovered from the A-bomb calamity, Hiroshima's deepest wish is the elimination of all nuclear weapons and the realization of a genuinely peaceful international community."

Reading the realities of the Japanese people before, during, and after the bombing of Hiroshima was unbelievable. The pictures, the stories, the relics that still remained, the sadness in the eyes of the people, the silence throughout the museum, despite the fact that there were hundreds of people there are things that I will never forget.