Journal Eight: Bryan Bryden

The greatest take away from Hiroshima is that nuclear weapons should not be used as a means of world control.  An entire city was devastated with the use of one single bomb.  The same situation could be repeated at any time in another city.  It is worth remembering that even after the shock and horror the world expressed after the nuclear bomb was used, countries still developed and tested bigger bombs.  It is important to recognize that governments can sometimes push logic to the wayside in order to achieve their own goals.

            The first character I will hold onto is Father Kleinsorge/Takakura.  I want to remember that even as frail as he was, he survived.  Father Kleinsorge worked diligently to bring faith and compassion to others.  I found it incredible that in just two years he had gathered four hundred baptisms and officiated forty marriages.  Father Kleinsorge cared so much for Japan that he became a citizen.  He is a very real character that accomplished amazing feats throughout his life.  I also want to hold onto Kiyoshi Tanimoto for his amazing spirit and feats just after the bombing.  I think that Mr. Tanimoto showed his true strength and character when he rescued the injured survivors.  Towards the end of his tale he became a bit consumed by his own ego.  However, it shows the reader that anyone can get carried away with their own beliefs and ambitions.  He was a very forgiving and compassionate man that cared very much about others.

            I do not want to forget about how real this story felt as I read it.  While reading about the experiences, I felt like this could easily happen in my own city.  I could only imagine the emotional rollercoaster that would be involved.  The anger towards the country that caused such destruction, the sadness of losing the ones I love, and the utter shock of trying to adjust to what has happened, and what must be done to help others.

            On page 5, “He felt a sudden pressure, and then splinters and pieces of board and fragments of tile fell on him.  He heard no roar.  (Almost no one in Hiroshima recalls hearing any noise of the bomb.  But a fisherman in his sampan on the Inland Sea near Tsuzu, the man with whom Mr. Tanimoto’s mother-in-law and sister-in-law were living, saw the flash and heard a tremendous explosion; he was nearly twenty miles from Hiroshima, but the thunder was greater than when the B-29s hit Iwakuni, only five miles away.”  I would not have expected that such a destructive bomb would have been silent to those directly affected.

            When the Emperor gave his address I found the reactions were vastly different than what Americans would experience.  Page 65 it states, “They listened to the broadcast and when they came to realize the fact that it was the Emperor, they cried with full tears in their eyes. ‘What a wonderful blessing it is that Tenno himself call on us and we can hear his own voice in person.  We are thoroughly satisfied in such a great sacrifice.’ ” 

            Lastly, I found the stigma attached to the hibakusha was quite negative.  On page 151 Koko, Mr. Tanimoto’s daughter “fell in love with a Chinese American and became engaged to marry him, but her fiancé’s father, a doctor, said that because she had been exposed to the atomic bomb she couldn’t bear a normal child, and he forbade the marriage.”

            This book educates by inspiring us to realize how actions hold consequences for others.  We must all take action to ensure that this never happens again.  As humans, we must stand up to our leaders by questioning their authority and decisions.  If we allow the powerful to act unchecked, then history is bound to repeat itself over again.