Journal 8 by Zach Baker

After reading Hiroshima there are somethings that I would like to take away from it. One of those things is to be brave in every situation. You see these heroic characters that are everyday people like you and me stand up and help out for a greater cause. These characters did not have to keep fighting weather it was for life or helping people get the medical help they needed but they did and they survived and impacted the lives of others around them. And another thing we need to remember is just the sheer devastation of what war can do. This event in history is not talked about very much and in reality it should be. Just for the fact that we should not forget the people that have died in this tragedy, but also to remember the heroic survivors. We should also remember this event so we do not use the same sort of warfare on anyone else.

1. The two characters that I will be holding onto the most would be Father Kleinsorge and Dr. Sasaki. Father Kleinsorge has been my favorite character in the book for his caring personality and lightheartedness. Although he has seen so much death and destruction, and his hurt himself, he still put others before himself and will  not stop serving, talk about a true servants heart. He also manages to keep a positive outlook on things even when everything is literally falling down around him, he is still able to find some good in the situation. Father K. keeps this attitude and lifestyle up all the way until his death. That is a kind of attitude and life style I would like to hold onto and put into practice. Dr, Sasaki was another character that was more worried about others and there well being over his own. He shows dedication to his work and into his patients because he really does care for the people. Later in his career he recognizes the needs of the elderly and dedicates his life to improving the lives of the older people and creates a very successful career and life for himself. I want to hold onto from this character the willingness to go the extra mile to help someone in need.    

2. Through out the book I had experienced many emotions all at the same time. At one moment I was learning something historically new which sparked emotion in me which made me thank God that we are so blessed by not living in fear of an atomic bomb being dropped. But one reaction that I do not want to forget is the sudden realization of how devastating this event was.That sparks the intellectual and emotional side, for the reason that I do not want to forget or let the world forget the devastation the bomb had on these people and the problems it caused. If you bring in the emotional side by talking about the death and destruction and the people trying to find there families under there fallen down house, that can drive home the emotional side. These two combined can not be easily forgotten and I hope I never will forget.

3.The book is filled with many great passages that give us a glimpse into the madness of what was going on in that time, but it also gives us a personal look in the individuals and how they viewed and understood things. It also gave us graphic and dramatic war scenes that will stick with us. But one passage that sticks out to me is on page 78 "and as if nature were protecting man against his own ingenuity,the reproductive processes were affected for a time; men became sterile, women had miscarriages, menstruation stopped". This passage is just chilling because it is essentially saying nature has stopped mankind for a wile a put them in there place. It was showing the people that the should not be messing with this kind of stuff or we will be destroying ourselves and out future. Another passage is on page 83 " my child, Father Kleinsorge said, man is not now in the condition God intended. He has fallen form grace through sin". This conversation Between Father Kleinsorge and Miss Sasaki gives a very interesting view into Father K s understanding of bad things in the world and the understanding of many other believers. It gives hope were no hope is found for the fact that God still loves and cares for us, we just live in a fallen world. Lastly one last passage that sticks out to me is  "she had first hand knowledge  of the cruelty of the atomic bomb but she felt that more notice should be given to the causes that to the instrument of total war". This passage is saying that we should not dwell on what was used in war, rather prevent the war from happening.

4. One thing that this book inspires us to do is not forget the things that have greatly impacted our history and world changing events. These things are important to remember so we can learn from them and be taught lessons about them so we can not make the same mistakes we did in the past.