I like to think that I am a tough person, that I can control my emotions. I like to think that I can see any hardship and stand fast and not cry or become emotional. But the truth is: I cant, none of us can. And when comforted with what I saw at The Hiroshima Peace Museum I am not ashamed to say that I had tears in my eyes. Because I did have tears in my eyes and I wanted to weep for them. But I couldn’t, I could only hold it in.

The pictures from Hiroshima are forthcoming in my Flickr Profile but I have already felt what those scenes did to me. Even just hearing the stories of skin melting off a person’s bones and stretching to incomprehensible lengths made me cringe. Hearing the 1000 crane story and how she kept on making cranes until she died, putting the wish of wanting to live into each one. The feeling cannot be described, and cannot be ignored. Perhaps, it was the people of Hiroshima who were the most worried in the world when North Korea conducted the recent Nuclear test. Perhaps, this is where Japanese children get the drive for wanting world peace that is so prevalent in their culture and Anime.

Truly it was atrocious and was an event that awakened us to what mankind is capable of through Science. As FDR put it, we have harnessed the power of the Sun, and made it our weapon. Nuclear weapons will always exist, so long as humanity is dependant on Nuclear power as a means of power. Weapons will always exist until everyone can accept another differing beliefs and act with kindness and thoughtfulness. Wars will always exist because Humans don’t trust each other and don’t give a reason to trust each other.

It was perhaps one of the saddest and most enlightening experiences of my life to visit Hiroshima. The city is gorgeous and one could never tell that it is one of two areas on Earth to have a nuclear bomb used on it during warfare. Perhaps, this beauty is a tribute to the strength of Japan that is evident in every citizen. A country that miraculously recovered after being systematically annihilated. We could learn a lot from Japan and its people.