What do you want to take away from the reading of Hiroshima?
I honestly can say that what I want to take away from the reading is that no matter where you're from and regardless of your heritage, we're all the same and our lives are equally effected by catastrophic events. There will always be people out there in years to come that might be responsible for a large amount of people and their way of life, who will ultimately end up doing something that can or will change the lives of many; whether it would be for good or for the worst. War is a terrible thing to endure. It's hard for families to cope with the lost of a family member, it's difficult for one to be pulled into a war they have never started, and our lives, our communities, and our worlds are effected by these events which are created by these people that are responsible for the lives of many.
What might be the effort to try to remember?
The history of Hiroshima and Nagasaki I have known for quite a long time, but never have I looked into this world changing event like this before. So to me, the one thing that I see that would be worth the effort to remember would be is that the decisions we make in life tell us who we are as human beings... I believe "we" human are wretched things. We're capable of a destruction which is unmatched to any other living breathing thing on this earth, but we are also capable of compassion. We have the ability to ignore our most possessive emotion, hatred and focus on who we are as individuals. There will always be bad people out there in this world and there will always be people out there who try and make a difference in this world for the good of others, and there will always be people out there in this world who will never be on either side of the court. Those are the ones who can upset this equal balance between good and evil and change what is happening in our world today. Look back at the events that happen as far back as fifteen years ago till now. You always here about bombings, murders, and threats to our way of life constantly everyday. I think we ought to ask ourselves "What can we do to stop this evil that has risen in our world?" Can we use Hiroshima and Nagasaki as an example? If so, who would you look at as the evil entity and the good entity? Who started the war? Japan did. Who finished the war? America did. Take a step back and look and think. There were so many victims on both sides of the war soldiers and civilians. Why did all of this happen then? It happened because of ones desire to commit evil in this world and others followed. So, again, we should always remember that our decisions in life define who we are as human beings, and that the history we make as a force, a nation, a group, and as individuals will make an impact on future generations to come. The question is... what impact are we trying to make?
1.) The two characters that I will hold to?
I will honestly say that Dr. Sasaki and Mr. Tanimoto for the simple reason is that when there was so much hatred and destruction going on around them, they felt compassion for each other and put others lives ahead of their own even if it met putting their own lives in peril. Dr. Sasaki used glasses that wasn't his in order to see just so he could help the thousands of people coming to him. He took on a job that was so big and impossible to do alone and he did it with hardly to none of sleep. Mr. Tanimoto worked so hard to fight the fires in Asano Park and ferrying people to safety to the point of undeniable exhaustion.
2.) What was my reaction?
I don't want to forget the reality that John Hersey captured so impeccably in this book. When I read this book I couldn't stop telling myself that this really happened and I tried putting myself in this situations where people were confused and scared, and I could honestly say that like those people at that time I would be doing the same if this would happen again where we live. The reality of it is quite scary. When you're at home, work, or school you have no idea what is happening outside your day to day lives. The book explains this is the birth of the atomic age... my question, which walks hand in hand with my fear about the atomic age is, what's going to happen next or how does this terrible period end?
3.) What three passages in the books do I want to remember?
" It seems logical that he who supports total war in principle cannot complain of a war against civilians"(90).
"He blundered so without his glasses that he took a pair off the face of a wounded nurse... they were better than nothing... Dr. Sasaki worked without method, taking those who were nearest him first"(25).
" On the other side, at a higher spit, he lifted the slimy living bodies out and carried them up the slope away from the tide. He had to keep consciously repeating to himself, 'These are human beings.' It took him three trips to get them all across the river"(45).
I chose these three passages for the reason to show the compassion and respect that people can show for one another regardless the given situation. The people of Hiroshima had no idea what has happened and again didn't know what was to come later from the bombing. There were people who were so badly hurt form the bombing and people who were in need of so much help that people had to keep going to search for safety and leave those people behind. These quotes can tell us our actions can make a significant impact on others lives, and we ought to keep this important notion to remind us who we chose to be.
4.) Is there anything we can learn to do from this book?
Well, I've said it many time throughout this assignment, but if there were something else that I could say that we can learn from this book, I would say that we can learn to be more knowledgeable of world events. This could inspire us to do things that would help or change events from happening. People are in need and we sometimes look at other who make no difference in our day to day lives and think "who are they to me?" I believe if we all could take away what we learned from this book is the people who were surrounded by hell helped those who were worst off than themselves. If we could show more compassion and try just helping on a very small scale, we could eventually end up changing things on an even large scale.
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