This morning we met with Keiko, a survivor of the bombing of Hiroshima. She spoke with our class for a little over an hour. During our hour spent with her, she told us about her every day life as a small girl living on the outskirts of Hiroshima in the late 1940’s. Her survival story- her whole family’s survival story, for that matter, is a miraculous one. She spoke with us about what it means to her still, now, today, to be an atomic bomb survivor. Not only does she experience memory-nightmares of people melting and dying before her very own 8-year old eyes, and a crippling phobia of planes- she also has, like many other bomb survivors, faced intense discrimination. It is common for those thought to be exposed to radiation to experience isolation from those around them. Keiko told us that many people kept their life in Hiroshima a secret so that they would not face discrimination in the workforce, or marriage. She described instances in which she was treated unkindly because of what she had been through.
The Hiroshima A-Bomb Museum was filled with incredibly gruesome and numbing photos, and painfully straightforward recollections- although I was worried that I would feel like a monster treading through the museum, I was actually filled with deep understanding a and feeling; and ultimately, simply a wish for peace. I am grateful to have been able to speak with Keiko and to grasp the horrors of an atomic bombing- although I will never be able to even fathom what it was like.
The Hiroshima A-Bomb Museum was filled with incredibly gruesome and numbing photos, and painfully straightforward recollections- although I was worried that I would feel like a monster treading through the museum, I was actually filled with deep understanding a and feeling; and ultimately, simply a wish for peace. I am grateful to have been able to speak with Keiko and to grasp the horrors of an atomic bombing- although I will never be able to even fathom what it was like.