No More Hiroshimas, No More Nagasakis!

Dear Friends,

I wrote about the Interfaith Journey of Repentance in a previous post. Members of this delegation traveled to Hiroshima and Nagasaki for the 64th anniversaries of the atomic bombings to listen to the stories of the Hibakusha and engage in the global movement to abolish all nuclear weapons. If you haven't yet read about their journey, I highly recommend their blog (click here or see the link below). There is also another link with photos of Father Louis Vitale, who was one of the participants, at Pace e Bene.

Hiroshima's mayor, Tadatoshi Akiba, presented the city's annual Peace Declaration on August 6th, a document that expresses the "Spirit of Hiroshima", that spirit being characterized by forgiveness, the struggle for peace, and the determination that no other city shall ever suffer the fates of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The United States, being the only nation to have ever used nuclear weapons on another, has a unique responsibility to set the example for other nations to move towards a world without nuclear weapons.

As the survivors of the atomic bombings grow older, we are gradually losing the living memories of these tragedies; and collective memory is so important if we are to keep the torch of nuclear abolition alive. It is through the dedication of people such as those engaged in the Journey of Repentance that we will help keep the memories alive and spread the word of peace and reconciliation so necessary in a world awash in violence. The struggle to rid the world of nuclear weapons will only be won through the principles of nonviolence.

Repentance is much more than a simple apology. The Journey of Repentance is a model for the commitment to working (in a deep, sincere way) for nuclear abolition. I hope that reading their blog will give you a sense of their deep commitment, and demonstrate the hope that exists through the actions of people like these. May we all journey along with them in our own repentance for the sins of the past, while we work to ensure that we will never again commit such egregious sins as were committed on the people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Hiroshima, Nagasaki - Never Again!

Peace,

Leonard

Click here to read the Journey of Repentance Blog.

Click here to see photos of Father Louis Vitale's participation in the Journey of Repentance.

Sign the Statement of Repentance at the Journey of Repentance Website.

Journey of Repentance

My Friends,

It was 8:14 a.m. in Hiroshima, Japan, on August 6, 1945, a calm and sunny morning. The city went about its usual Monday morning business, bustling with activity. At 8:15 a.m. that same morning the bombadier aboard the Enola Gay, a U.S. B-29 bomber released the planes deadly cargo, a uranium-type atomic bomb from an altitude of 31,000 feet. The bomb plummeted towards the city below, the people completely unaware of the pending doom. Fourty-three seconds later the bomb detonated at an altitude of 1,900 feet above the ground.

The initial heat of the explosion incinerated everything near the hypocenter. The blast wave crumpled bodies and collapsed buildings. Those who were not killed instantly succumbed to the effects of their injuries and the intense ionizing radiation emitted by the explosion. It was an unimaginable hell. You can read a narrative of the bombing here. I will say no more of it.

Today, 64 years later, nations continue (led by the U.S. and Russia) to maintain nuclear arsenals, and other nations seek to develop them. If we are to abolish nuclear weapons, the U.S. and Russia will have to lead the way. As for the U.S., we need to recognize that we should never have used nuclear weapons in the first place and that we can never use them again. We must, in a very real sense, begin a journey of repentance (not unlike that of Fr. George Zabelka in my previous post). That journey of repentance can only begin with a sincere apology.

Acts of contrition are never easy. As I write this post, a group of peacemakers are in Hiroshima on this solemn anniversary, the destination of their Journey of Repentance. Father Bill Bichsel of the Tacoma Catholic Worker is one of 16 people who made the journey to Hiroshima "to acknowledge the tremendous damage done by our country, by what has happened."

The Journey of Repentance, composed of people of various faith traditions, is making the journey to both Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The group includes Dominican Sister Teresa Montes, Franciscan Father and Catholic Worker Louis Vitale and U.S. Navy veteran Tom Karlin and Mitch Kohjima, a former Buddhist monk. "The apology is necessary in order to begin to repent for the sins of war," Father Bichsel said. “What we have done not only has inflicted tremendous damage on the Japanese, it also has done tremendous damage on the (American) people when we don’t remember what we have done.”

In any healthy relationship, a sincere apology is necessary in order to move on towards healing. No matter what the justification might have been for dropping the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, as people of faith we are called to recognize that in the eyes of a loving God we need to renounce violence of any kind. Until we are able to see the lack of humanity we exhibit when we continue to justify the killing of well over 200,000 people (estimated 240,000 deaths by the end of 1945, with half those on the days of the bombings), we will not be able to renounce the use of nuclear weapons.

Yesterday, after touring the Hiroshima Peace Museum, Fr. Bichsel stopped and said, "There is just no reason" he said. "There is absolutely no reason for us to still have the capability to drop those bombs." Indeed, there is not!!! August 6, 1945 was a turning point in human history; we had developed (and demonstrated) the ability to destroy ourselves. Since then we have raised it to a high (and dark) art. Until we recognize our folly (and our hubris) we will not be able to move forward towards peace.

Let us stop and be silent for at least a few moments on this day, listening for the voices of those who suffered and died on August 6, 1945. I hope that we can all hear their call for healing, for reconciliation, and for peace.

Peace,

Leonard

You can read blog postings about the Journey of Repentance by clicking here.

Notes on the photograph of watch: Kengo Nikawa (then, 59) was exposed to the bomb crossing the Kan-on Bridge, 1600 meters from the hypocenter, by bike going from his home to his assigned building demolition site in the center of the city. He suffered major burns on his right shoulder, back, and head and took refuge in Kochi-mura Saiki-gun. He died on August 22. Kengo was never without this precious watch given him by his son, Kazuo