August 6, Hiroshima Day, commemorates the first ever atomic bomb attack, by the United States, on Hiroshima, Japan in 1945. It is estimated that 90,000－166,000 persons died from that attack. A second (and last) atomic attack was carried out three days later, also by the U.S., on Nagasaki, Japan.
Having been born almost two years later, I grew up in the shadow of the bomb. I grew up in the first generation knowing we could bring the world to an end. Now we know that we can bring the world to an end not only by nuclear destruction, but through environmental destruction as well.
I remember in elementary school we had bomb drill practices when we had to get down under our desks for awhile. Families were encouraged to build bomb shelters in their backyards for survival. I don't think many did though. At least, none that I knew of. Anyway, "the bomb" was in the air, so to speak. We were probably even shown documentaries on such.
I also remember later seeing the movie called, "On the Beach," depicting after the bomb. I even read a couple of novels depicting after the bomb.
Not too many years ago, I read a book I found at my local library telling stories from the survivors called, hibakusha. At this time I also read from the library, a book by a Japanese man survivor written not too many years after the bomb.
I guess you could say I have been haunted by the bomb. This threat of nuclear destruction is one reason I believe we are going to have to get along in this world. I am not one of those who looks forward to the end of the world for Jesus to come back. I believe that part of why we are here is to love and care for each other. Compassion--not hate, destruction, and war--is the way.
The above is why I am so dismayed by the current action of Congress in our deficit crisis. There is no excuse for the wealthy not doing their part and for putting it all on the poor and the needy. All this warmaking and defense spending must be cut.
All human life everywhere is sacred including terrorists, Democrats, and Republicans.
I Declare World Peace.
Read Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Rich Man's Coup of America and Women's Challenge, and sign the Charter for Compassion. You can also declare world peace, too.
Showing posts with label atomic bomb. Show all posts
Showing posts with label atomic bomb. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Awesome August
I am exploring and reading a book. It is about a holy conversation that was held on the battlefield of what we in Kentucky call, a feud, such as that famous one held in the post-Civil War hills of Eastern Kentucky/West Vrginia.
The book is that of Bhagavad Gita: A New Translation by Steven Mitchell (New York: Three Rivers Press, c 2000).
The book, often called just Gita, is part of the foundational poetic epic of India and it was a favorite of Emerson and Thoreau. Gandhi called it his mother.
I happen to be getting into the Gita, coincidentally, in the auspicious month of August. On August 6, 1945, the United States of America initiated an atomic bomb attack on the city of Hirhoshima, Japan. August 6 is also the day that the Christian ligurgical calendar reserved for the Transfiguration of Jesus . On August 9, 1945, the United States attacked--atomically again --another city of Japan, one called, Nagasaki.
Robert Openheimer, a U.S. scientist witnessing the first atomic explosion on July 16, 1945, quoted the book the Gita.
Mitchell writes in his introduction:
The climax of the Gita is its eleventh chapter, in which Krishna appears to Arjuna in his supremem form. It is a terrifying theophany, a glimpse into a level of reality that is more tha the ordinary mind can bear. Arjuna sees
the whole universe enforded, with its countless billions of life-forms, gathered together in the body of the God of gods.
Krishna dazzles his sight blazing in
the measureless, massive sun-flame splendor of his radiant form.
This is a vision of pure energy, which does not discriminate between good and evil, creation and destruction. No wondered it entered modern history through the story of Robert Oppenheimer's response to the first atomic explosion at Alamogordo on July 16, 1945. What other image form literature could have been so uncanny right for that occasion?
If a thousand suns were to rise and stand in the noon sky blazing, such brilliance would be like the fierce brilliance of that mighty Self.
As the bomb exploded, Oppenheimer thought of another, later verse:
I am death shatterer of worlds annihilating all things.
Chapter twelve in the Gita, the chapter following the sight of radiant Krishna, contains these words:
He who has let go of hatred, who treats all beings with kindness and compassion ...
The same to both friend and foe ...
that man is the one I love best.
According to the Gospel stories. aftter Jesus was transfigured, he descended the mountain and began a journey of holy conversation to Jerusalem where he was crucified.
Before Jesus was arrested, he told his disciples, as the apostle Paul later told the Christian community of Rome:
Love one other.
On August 23, my husband and I celebrate our thirtieth wedding anniversary.
May Peace Prevail On Earth!
I Declare World Peace.
May you do so also.
_______
For more about the Gita, see Karen Armstrong's The Great Transformation.
The book is that of Bhagavad Gita: A New Translation by Steven Mitchell (New York: Three Rivers Press, c 2000).
The book, often called just Gita, is part of the foundational poetic epic of India and it was a favorite of Emerson and Thoreau. Gandhi called it his mother.
I happen to be getting into the Gita, coincidentally, in the auspicious month of August. On August 6, 1945, the United States of America initiated an atomic bomb attack on the city of Hirhoshima, Japan. August 6 is also the day that the Christian ligurgical calendar reserved for the Transfiguration of Jesus . On August 9, 1945, the United States attacked--atomically again --another city of Japan, one called, Nagasaki.
Robert Openheimer, a U.S. scientist witnessing the first atomic explosion on July 16, 1945, quoted the book the Gita.
Mitchell writes in his introduction:
The climax of the Gita is its eleventh chapter, in which Krishna appears to Arjuna in his supremem form. It is a terrifying theophany, a glimpse into a level of reality that is more tha the ordinary mind can bear. Arjuna sees
the whole universe enforded, with its countless billions of life-forms, gathered together in the body of the God of gods.
Krishna dazzles his sight blazing in
the measureless, massive sun-flame splendor of his radiant form.
This is a vision of pure energy, which does not discriminate between good and evil, creation and destruction. No wondered it entered modern history through the story of Robert Oppenheimer's response to the first atomic explosion at Alamogordo on July 16, 1945. What other image form literature could have been so uncanny right for that occasion?
If a thousand suns were to rise and stand in the noon sky blazing, such brilliance would be like the fierce brilliance of that mighty Self.
As the bomb exploded, Oppenheimer thought of another, later verse:
I am death shatterer of worlds annihilating all things.
Chapter twelve in the Gita, the chapter following the sight of radiant Krishna, contains these words:
He who has let go of hatred, who treats all beings with kindness and compassion ...
The same to both friend and foe ...
that man is the one I love best.
According to the Gospel stories. aftter Jesus was transfigured, he descended the mountain and began a journey of holy conversation to Jerusalem where he was crucified.
Before Jesus was arrested, he told his disciples, as the apostle Paul later told the Christian community of Rome:
Love one other.
On August 23, my husband and I celebrate our thirtieth wedding anniversary.
May Peace Prevail On Earth!
I Declare World Peace.
May you do so also.
_______
For more about the Gita, see Karen Armstrong's The Great Transformation.
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Not Nukes
Sixty-four years ago my country, the United States of America, became the first and only nation to use nuclear weaponry (the atomic bomb) in warfare (August 6, 1945 on Hiroshima, Japan and August 9, 1945 on Nagasaki, Japan). I do not find this a fact of which to be proud. Since then other countries have acquired nuclear weapons, but the United States continues to have the most.
On April 5, 2009, U.S. President Barack Obama gave a speech in Prague, Czech Republic that included this:
The existence of thousands of nuclear weapons is the most dangerous legacy of the Cold War. No nuclear war was fought between the United States and the Soviet Union, but generations lived with the knowledge that their world could be erased in a single flash of light. Cities like Prague that existed for centuries, that embodied the beauty and the talent of so much of humanity, would have ceased to exist.
Today, the Cold War has disappeared but thousands of those weapons have not. In a strange turn of history, the threat of global nuclear war has gone down, but the risk of a nuclear attack has gone up. More nations have acquired these weapons. Testing has continued. Black market trade in nuclear secrets and nuclear materials abound. The technology to build a bomb has spread. Terrorists are determined to buy, build or steal one. Our efforts to contain these dangers are centered on a global non-proliferation regime, but as more people and nations break the rules, we could reach the point where the center cannot hold.Now, understand, this matters to people everywhere. One nuclear weapon exploded in one city -– be it New York or Moscow, Islamabad or Mumbai, Tokyo or Tel Aviv, Paris or Prague –- could kill hundreds of thousands of people. And no matter where it happens, there is no end to what the consequences might be -– for our global safety, our security, our society, our economy, to our ultimate survival.
Some argue that the spread of these weapons cannot be stopped, cannot be checked -– that we are destined to live in a world where more nations and more people possess the ultimate tools of destruction. Such fatalism is a deadly adversary, for if we believe that the spread of nuclear weapons is inevitable, then in some way we are admitting to ourselves that the use of nuclear weapons is inevitable.Just as we stood for freedom in the 20th century, we must stand together for the right of people everywhere to live free from fear in the 21st century. And as nuclear power –- as a nuclear power, as the only nuclear power to have used a nuclear weapon, the United States has a moral responsibility to act. We cannot succeed in this endeavor alone, but we can lead it, we can start it.
So today, I state clearly and with conviction America's commitment to seek the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons. I'm not naive. This goal will not be reached quickly –- perhaps not in my lifetime. It will take patience and persistence. But now we, too, must ignore the voices who tell us that the world cannot change. We have to insist, "Yes, we can."
I repeat, "Yes, we can" and add, “We must.”
The National Priorities Project has this:
Taxpayers in Kentucky’s Congressional District 6 (Chandler) will pay $22.4 million for proposed nuclear weapons in FY2009. For the same amount of money, the following could have been provided:
6,179 People with Health Care for One Year OR
8,798 Children with Health Care for One Year OR
3,377 Head Start Places for Children for One Year OR
434 Elementary School Teachers for One Year
That same project also has this:
Taxpayers in Kentucky’s Congressional District 6 (Chandler) will pay $1.3 billion for total Iraq & Afghanistan war spending since 2001. For the same amount of money, the following could have been provided:
351,374 People with Health Care for One Year OR
500,294 Children with Health Care for One Year OR
192,061 Head Start Places for Children for One Year OR
24,686 Elementary School Teachers for One Year
It seems that something is askew. With the dire financial crisis and poor well-being of the nation and the commonwealth, something is not right. Kentucky has historically had problems with the health of its people and has been trying to beef up its historically poor educational system. We need healthcare and education, not warfare. We need life-affirming budgeting, not death-enabling funding.
I had originally intended this blog to be secular, but I couldn’t help thinking of a Psalm portion (33:12-22):
Happy is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people whom he has chosen as his heritage. The Lord looks down from heaven; he sees all humankind. From where he sits enthroned he watches all the inhabitants of the earth— he who fashions the hearts of them all, and observes all their deeds. A king is not saved by his great army; a warrior is not delivered by his great strength. The war horse is a vain hope for victory, and by its great might it cannot save. Truly the eye of the Lord is on those who fear him, on those who hope in his steadfast love, to deliver their soul from death, and to keep them alive in famine. Our soul waits for the Lord; he is our help and shield. Our heart is glad in him, because we trust in his holy name. Let your steadfast love, O Lord, be upon us, even as we hope in you.
On April 5, 2009, U.S. President Barack Obama gave a speech in Prague, Czech Republic that included this:
The existence of thousands of nuclear weapons is the most dangerous legacy of the Cold War. No nuclear war was fought between the United States and the Soviet Union, but generations lived with the knowledge that their world could be erased in a single flash of light. Cities like Prague that existed for centuries, that embodied the beauty and the talent of so much of humanity, would have ceased to exist.
Today, the Cold War has disappeared but thousands of those weapons have not. In a strange turn of history, the threat of global nuclear war has gone down, but the risk of a nuclear attack has gone up. More nations have acquired these weapons. Testing has continued. Black market trade in nuclear secrets and nuclear materials abound. The technology to build a bomb has spread. Terrorists are determined to buy, build or steal one. Our efforts to contain these dangers are centered on a global non-proliferation regime, but as more people and nations break the rules, we could reach the point where the center cannot hold.Now, understand, this matters to people everywhere. One nuclear weapon exploded in one city -– be it New York or Moscow, Islamabad or Mumbai, Tokyo or Tel Aviv, Paris or Prague –- could kill hundreds of thousands of people. And no matter where it happens, there is no end to what the consequences might be -– for our global safety, our security, our society, our economy, to our ultimate survival.
Some argue that the spread of these weapons cannot be stopped, cannot be checked -– that we are destined to live in a world where more nations and more people possess the ultimate tools of destruction. Such fatalism is a deadly adversary, for if we believe that the spread of nuclear weapons is inevitable, then in some way we are admitting to ourselves that the use of nuclear weapons is inevitable.Just as we stood for freedom in the 20th century, we must stand together for the right of people everywhere to live free from fear in the 21st century. And as nuclear power –- as a nuclear power, as the only nuclear power to have used a nuclear weapon, the United States has a moral responsibility to act. We cannot succeed in this endeavor alone, but we can lead it, we can start it.
So today, I state clearly and with conviction America's commitment to seek the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons. I'm not naive. This goal will not be reached quickly –- perhaps not in my lifetime. It will take patience and persistence. But now we, too, must ignore the voices who tell us that the world cannot change. We have to insist, "Yes, we can."
I repeat, "Yes, we can" and add, “We must.”
The National Priorities Project has this:
Taxpayers in Kentucky’s Congressional District 6 (Chandler) will pay $22.4 million for proposed nuclear weapons in FY2009. For the same amount of money, the following could have been provided:
6,179 People with Health Care for One Year OR
8,798 Children with Health Care for One Year OR
3,377 Head Start Places for Children for One Year OR
434 Elementary School Teachers for One Year
That same project also has this:
Taxpayers in Kentucky’s Congressional District 6 (Chandler) will pay $1.3 billion for total Iraq & Afghanistan war spending since 2001. For the same amount of money, the following could have been provided:
351,374 People with Health Care for One Year OR
500,294 Children with Health Care for One Year OR
192,061 Head Start Places for Children for One Year OR
24,686 Elementary School Teachers for One Year
It seems that something is askew. With the dire financial crisis and poor well-being of the nation and the commonwealth, something is not right. Kentucky has historically had problems with the health of its people and has been trying to beef up its historically poor educational system. We need healthcare and education, not warfare. We need life-affirming budgeting, not death-enabling funding.
I had originally intended this blog to be secular, but I couldn’t help thinking of a Psalm portion (33:12-22):
Happy is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people whom he has chosen as his heritage. The Lord looks down from heaven; he sees all humankind. From where he sits enthroned he watches all the inhabitants of the earth— he who fashions the hearts of them all, and observes all their deeds. A king is not saved by his great army; a warrior is not delivered by his great strength. The war horse is a vain hope for victory, and by its great might it cannot save. Truly the eye of the Lord is on those who fear him, on those who hope in his steadfast love, to deliver their soul from death, and to keep them alive in famine. Our soul waits for the Lord; he is our help and shield. Our heart is glad in him, because we trust in his holy name. Let your steadfast love, O Lord, be upon us, even as we hope in you.
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