Nagasaki

Nagasaki

11:02 local time, 9 August 1945.

Fat Man detonated his obliteration.

There are a few horrors that strike me about the bombing of Nagasaki. One is that it is the second of two bombings. The US did not experience any buyer’s remorse in using its new toys the first time. There was no regret for what they did to Hiroshima. 3 days passed. 3 days to grow a conscience. None surfaced, so 3 days later they dropped an even stronger bomb; a bomb whose fiery destruction was somewhat confined by the Urakami Valley. Thankfully so, because flatter geography would’ve allowed a greater firestorm. 

Another horror is that Nagasaki wasn’t the last of the planned bombings. More cities were on the list. Production was being rushed to assemble more Fat Mans and Little Boys to be used. They intended to keep dropping bombs “as made ready.” Thanks be again that they were prevented from doing so.

The other horror is the indiscriminate annihilation that’s inherent in the use of nuclear weapons. For a supposed nation of virtues, how Christian it is indeed to drop bombs that wipe out whole cities. Destroy Christian churches, Buddhist shrines, hospitals, and homes. Massacre adults and children, civilians and soldiers. Care not if the dead are friend or foe. Eight, or as many as 13, Allied POWs were among the bombing fatalities, and Japanese soldiers account for less than a half percent of the Nagasaki death totals.

 As of last year, there were 136,682 Hibakusha, survivors, of both bombings still alive. That number drops by approximately 9,200 annually. That means well over 100,000 “bomb affected people” still walk this earth for whom the atrocities are burned into their bodies and memories. Atrocities that there remains no official remorse for, no atonement. Rather we live in a world where politics makes the consideration of apologies messy, leaving historians and other conscientious civilians to assess the weight of malfeasance. 

We live in an Atomic Age, in a time measured by how nuclear realities and the products of progress inch us closer to global catastrophe. The Doomsday Clock started keeping that time for us in 1947. It was first set at 7 minutes to midnight. Today we see ourselves at a frightening 100 seconds to midnight.  

The covid pandemic rages. The earth floods and burns at alarming rates. We’re not really doing anything to slow the pace of climate change. 9 nations still possess nuclear weapons with little hope at present of greater disarmament. Foreign policy is still dominated by war mongering, covert and outright meddling, as well as vain posturing. 

Do you hear a ticking of a clock, feel a quickening of your heartrate? You should. 

How about this question? Does your soul quiver with horror when you think of what happened to Nagasaki on that dreaded day? I know mine does.

May the dead rest in peace.

May we collectively endeavor to create a real peace in this world while we still have a chance.