Journal 8--Amy Scarborough

After reading Hiroshima I chose to hold onto Dr. Sasaki and Mrs. Nakamura. They were the two people that stood out to me for their heroic actions. They put others before there own needs. Dr. Sasaki was in medicine for the right reason, he enjoyed his career and strived to help those who needed it. Before the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima he was seeing patients in his mothers town without a permit because he knew there was a need. He risked the possibility for a stiff punishment for the greater good. During the destruction of Hiroshima Dr. Sasaki worked around the clock to help those in suffering. He, later in life had a near death experience which motivated him to be a better person and doctor. Sadly his wife died of breast cancer, which motivated him back into research.
Mrs. Nakamura also exemplified a hero prior to the atomic bomb in Hiroshima by her devotion to her children. She was a widow and a single mom to three young children. She worked so hard to give them a home and the things they needed. She did this by sewing. Her sewing machine was broken but later fixed, and due to the affects of the radiation sickness she was forced to sell her source of income to pay for doctor bills. Thankfully, government aid and pensions eventually came her way so she was able to retire comfortably, which she so desperately deserved.
I chose to hold on to Dr. Sasaki because I work in healthcare and he is a great example of professionalism and compassion. I chose to hold on to Mrs. Nakamura's values as a mother that I will one day be. She works very hard for her children and does the work of both mother and father, and raises nice children, despite their circumstances. I imagine that they value their mothers hard work and devotion to them in their adult life.
If I could forget anything it would be the description of the burnt skin on those injured. Because it makes me a bit queezy to think about how that would feel. And the amount of suffering that those civilians went through. It really is hard to even imagine that large of a catastrophe, and I hope I never have to know what that is like.
My favorite passages follow:
On page 36, Father Laselle states, "It's funny, but things don't matter any more. Yesterday my shoes were my most important possessions. Today, I don't care. One pair is enough. To which Father Cieslik responds, "I know. I started to bring my books along, and then I thought, "This is not time for books." I liked this passage a lot because it shows human thinking when tragedy or emergencies strike, the big goal is survival, not carrying your possessions around. Things don't matter in the grand scheme of life.
On the last page on 152, I liked the last passage. "His memory, like the world's, was getting spotty." This was the way that Hersey chose to end the book and I think it was a powerful sentence. He present you with the facts and the stories of these peoples lives and then throws it out there that the world just doesn't like to remember what happened. And no longer talks about the events that happened.
And on page 146 when addressing the pilot of Enola Gay, "Did you write something in your log at that time?" To which Lewis responded, "I wrote down the words, "My God, what have we done?" I think this passage makes me think about how not only Japan's people were affected but also the US military personnel, they had a tough job to do. I certainly would never be capable of doing what these men were told to do. It doesn't appear that they have coped well with the actions they had to carrry out as part of their duty.
I think the biggest thing we can learn from this book is war is awful, and mass destruction of civilians is not okay. Hiroshima should never be forgotten, because I think there is a lot to take away from it.