Hiroshima on My Mind

by Pa Rock
Cultural Explorer

Today is the sixty-fifth anniversary of the United States dropping the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, the starkly cruel beginning of the atomic age. The Stars and Stripes did a cover story on the anniversary today, noting, among other things, that the United States ambassador, John Roos, would be at today's commemoration of the event in the city of Hiroshima - the first time that the United States has sent an actual official of our government to that annual event.

President Obama is coming to Japan in November, and the mayors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki have each invited him to visit their cities. I personally believe that would be a good use of his time while he is in Japan, and it would help to focus the world's attention on the awfulness of weapons of mass destruction.

I reminisced in my other blog, Pa Rock's Ramble, today about a visit that I made to Hiroshima thirty-seven year ago. That account is at http://pa-rocks-ramble.blogspot.com/2010/08/hiroshima-sixty-five-years-later.html.

The trip to Hiroshima is one that I would like to do again if I have the opportunity during this tour. It is a place that truly overwhelms visitors with the absolute necessity of peace.