He was eight years old when the bomb created a firestorm that killed more than 80,000 instantly and thousands more in the days and months later, most from radiation sickness, bringing the toll to about 140,000. Over the years others developed leukemia and even children of the hibakusha, the survivors, were born with deformities.
To make it clear to the Japanese that we were willing to bring an apocalypse on them, Truman ordered a second bomb on Nagasaki. But 8-year old Mori Shigeaki knew among the dead were 8 American POWs, and he sought to find their families to let them know what had happened to them.
Extraordinary, don’t you think, that a child would look out upon the terrible destruction he saw and pledge his life to the families of men who were his enemies? How do we deal with terrible violence wreaked upon us? How do we learn to reconcile with those who have tried to destroy us? What is the path we will take? One towards healing or one towards destructive vengeance?
Prayer for the Day
Called to bring peace in this day and at this time,
We are often unsure what that call demands;
Called to walk in the light, we often walk in the darkness,
Forgetting our memories of the past as well our hopes for the future.
Help us, O Holy One, to see the world with a new vision,
As did the blind man whose eyes were opened.
May we always be faithful to your vision, as was the One we follow,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
There are no winners or losers in war. I don't want to see another senseless war.
Mori Shigeaki, hibakusha (1938-2026)
Humans are wired to advance. Humans do whatever it takes.
And yet, nuclear war zeros it all out.
Nuclear weapons reduce human brilliance and ingenuity, love and desire, empathy and intellect, to ash.”
Annie Jacobsen, from Nuclear War: A Scenario
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God.
Jesus in Matthew 5: 9