August 6, 2015 was the 70th anniversary of the day that the United States dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan resulting in an estimated 140,000 deaths. Three days later on August 9, 2015 the United States dropped a bomb on Nagasaki killing another 60,000 to 80,000 people. A third bomb was planned for August 17th or 18th but Japan surrendered on August 15th.
It is not my intent in this brief blog to review this history of the world leading up to this animosity between Japan and the United States or to review all the arguments for and against the use of the atomic bomb.
It is my intent to invite all of us to have more of a historic conscience and to quit acting as if historical events happened in a vacuum. Obviously, no one in Japan woke up one morning and said, “Goodness, it is a boring day. Let’s bomb Pearl Harbor.” That was also not how the decision of the League of Nations action against Japan or the decision for the full embargo of Japan by the United States was made.
The average person killed in any war is not the leader making decisions. It is our neighbors and the sons and daughters of our neighbors. Whether we are talking about the approximate 407, 000 United States soldiers killed during WWII or the total of 60 to 80 million killed, the numbers are staggering. If we think about the fact that each one of those killed as well as the wounded and those who suffered in many other ways because of the war, the toll is unimaginable. I think of babies held by mothers and fathers stretching as far as I can see from the top of the tallest building in New York City or from 20,000 feet plus on top of Mount McKinley. These are those who were killed, maimed, and suffered during WWII and the events leading up to that war. How can we not take a moment to grieve? How can we now wonder how it is some 70 years later that we humans on this planet continue to kill, maim, and otherwise mistreat each other? Instead of learning that gross unequal sharing of the world’s resource leads to insane, violent action of we humans, the disparity between the haves and the have not’s continues to increase. In an age when CEOs, many sports figures, and others are paid more money than anyone could possibly need or even spend, we continue to believe that our main purpose is to protect our overfilled larder instead of finding ways to share. When we do share it is often because we think that it will be politically expedient to “our interest.”
On August 6, 2015 I search the Tampa Tribune for some mention of the anniversary of the dropping of the atomic bomb – of the killing of 140,000 sons and daughters – neighbors - in one city alone. The only mention I found was a very brief, small print mention in the “Today in History” insert on page 6. Neither did I find any mention of the 407,000 sons and daughters of the United States killed during World War II or the 60 to 80 million people killed during that war. (To be fair on August 7, 2015 there was a copy of an AP article entitled “Japan marks 70th anniversary of Hiroshima bombing”. NPR had extensive coverage and discussion of the historic events.)
Perhaps it would be worth our time and energy to stop to remember that all of our actions of today will have consequences today, tomorrow, and 70 years from now. Perhaps it behooves us not to beat our breast with pride over the dropping of the atomic bomb or to retreat into shame but to ask what we can do to invite others to share our loaf of bread. Perhaps it is important to share our loaf of bread not because we deem that they deserve it or because we want to rack up some points for good behavior. Perhaps it is enough to know that reacting to violence with more violence – physical, emotional, and financial – does not, in the long run bring about a more just and loving world. Perhaps the 60 to 80 million sons and daughters do not need our expressions of regret and apology. Perhaps we need to acknowledge that we need the hand of our neighbor whether they are across the street or across the ocean. Perhaps, with humility. we need to admit that we are “one of the least of these” emotionally and spiritually. Perhaps it is time we let go of our arrogance and false pride and ask to share the table with our neighbor. All of us want to believe that we have something important to share. Sometimes it is in accepting that we give the most and get the most. It seems easy to criticize each other We humans are together capable of learning to divide the loaf into 80 million bites.