Hiroshima Atomic Bomb Memorial Day

Just got back from the memorial event at Amy's kindy. Boy was it hot! There is no air conditioning at her kindy, which gives you some small appreciation of what it was like for those people that day - one of the recurring themes of the atomic bomb stories is the incredible thirst felt by the victims who had basically had their body's moisture sucked out of them by the heat of the blast. And on such a wickedly hot August day!

We gathered in the small kindergarten hall, and first up, the teacher gave the children a brief summary of what happened that day, showing them some drawings from a book.















Next, we came down and sat on the floor with the kids, and made an origami crane, a potent symbol of peace and healing in Japan.








Next was a talk by an elderly man who served on an aircraft carrier that was sunk by American planes. He explained how he had survived, and how of his kindy group of six boys, only he came back. Note the little plane on the end of one stick and the hot sun on the other. He used to be a teacher, and was a very good speaker. The kids were rapt.



Although I was disappointed that no mention was made of the current wars and conflicts going on in the world, the emphasis and focus was on not doing this again, creating and maintaining peace, not 'this is what the bastards did to us', which is what so many memorials can become.