Remembering Hiroshima
Ahead of the 70th anniversary of the destruction of Hiroshima and
Nagasaki next year, a new publication reminds us not only of the horrors
of the past, but also of the path that we need to take to stop forever
the deadly race leading to our common destruction.
By Monzurul Huq
TOKYO - Human memory is short, particularly when it comes to record
war and destruction. Countless details of various times portraying the
accounts of misery and human suffering probably remind us of something
vague and abstract; something distant and detached, not at all related
to the realities that we face at any given time. Since what is seen as
vague or blurred hardly serves as solid evidence, and what is distant
hardly seems inspiring for stirring our conscience to the level of
awakening, we tend to forget about what war and destruction brings to
mankind soon after the waves of tragic realities subside and pave the
way for a relative tranquil setting, at least for a short time.
This fragile nature of our memory is what plays always at the hands
of those who tend to take us back to the point where erasing the memory
for the sake of so called greater group interest becomes easier and we
turn back the wheels of progress for a journey taking the reverse
course. This is why war and subsequent self destruction has become part
of human being's eternal journey in quest of a peaceful and tranquil
life.
The real causes for much of such failures might be traced back in our
inability to grasp the depth of human sufferings that war always brings.
And as long as we continue ignoring the fathom of that depth, turning
swords into ploughshares will always remain a deferred dream, elusive
ever for us to reach anywhere closer. And here, once again, memory can
play a very important role; a role that would help us, at least in real
terms, to grasp the depth of tragedy that war might bring at a time when
our destructive capabilities by far supersede anything that we can think
about. And it is precisely from this understanding that the fourteen
survivors of Hiroshima atomic bombing in August 6, 1945, make a heroic
contribution by knocking at our conscience through the recollection and
recounting of memories of their innocent adolescent years, which were
torn apart by the hellfire unleashed on that fateful morning.
- Third World Network Features.
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