October 15, 2006 - page 3

weapons are destroyed. I can’t help but wonder if we’ll ever have the chance to blow it out.

A central feature of the Peace Park is the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, a must-visit for anyone who comes to this town. It costs a mere 50 yen to get in, and it offers a remarkably even-handed account of the events leading up to and following the atomic bombing. Going in I was curious to see how the Japanese would characterize the bombing, and was somewhat surprised when the exhibits didn’t try to assign blame to anyone. Instead, they just concentrated on the human tragedy of nuclear warfare. There was a lot to take in, but the thing that sticks out the most in my mind was a section of a stone stairway bleached white from the searing heat of the bomb… except for one dark spot, the shadow of someone who had been sitting there at the moment of the explosion. For whatever reason, that shadow was more poignant than any of the gruesome photographs. The museum accompanied these sad artifacts with in-depth exhibits on the current state of nuclear proliferation. It was an impassioned plea for peace and a sobering reminder of just how much is at stake.

This is the message of this peaceful place, once the site of so much violence. The atomic bomb was an awful end to an even worse war, a measure to which humans will hopefully never have to resort again. Hiroshima now offers a sense of hope for tomorrow, but won’t let us forget the lessons of the past. I think the inscription on the Memorial Cenotaph sums it up: “Let all the souls here rest in peace; For we shall not repeat the evil.”