Traveling is good for your heart and your soul. You forget you have problems when you come to a place like Hiroshima. It is the most moving city we have visited yet and the presence of peace is undeniable. I am overwhelmed by emotion today as we visited the Peace memorial park and museum. There are monuments in the park that dedicate the loss Hiroshima suffered after the Atomic Bomb to the more than half the population of its city 67 years ago. A children's monument is surrounded by millions of paper cranes made by children around the world in memory of a two year old who survived the bomb but 10 years later died of leukemia, a side effect of radiation. She hoped to make a thousand paper cranes to make her well, but she died before completing her wish. Since then children have made them in memory of the thousands of children perished from the bomb or it's radiation effects afterwards. The museum itself brought waves of tears for me as I read about the suffering and saw with my own eyes the clothing singed from people who perished that day. A tricycle was being ridden by a three year old who disintegrated from the blast and his father buried it with his ashes in the back yard. 40 years later he dug it up and donated it to the museum, while laying his sons remains in the family plot with his mother.
We met a man who volunteered at the museum and he said he was five when Hiroshima was bombed. His village was 20 km away and he remembers many survivors coming to his town and staying in his house. He made me a little white crane and we thanked him for sharing about his survival. This was a moving experience. Both Chris and I were so moved, inspired by the people's quest for world peace. This hope for world peace is contagious and I do feel inspired to do something, anything to contribute to peace in my world.
I am gratefully reminded through Hiroshima's burning flame, which will be extinguished when there are no more weapons of mass destruction, and no more war, that peace is possible! Peace to you loved ones from Hiroshima. Skye