70 years of a Countdown by Geri A Lennon

I was a small child on August 6, 1945. Later, in high school, I read Hiroshima Diary, Hiroshima and the less popular book Nagasaki....less popular,  shall we take a moment to pause? Hiroshima was bombed at 8:15 AM. No one seems to remember the time for Nagasaki.

66 years later, I viewed a documentary entitled “Hiroshima”: BBC History World War II.
This important documentary examines BOTH sides:  the Air Force crew of the Enola Gay, the sitting president, Truman and the brainiacs of the Manhattan project and the other side: the Japan war council, and the people of Hiroshima. It, is a moment to moment account of before, during and after of the dropping of the atomic bomb. 

It is strong and difficult to watch.  However, the stories of the survivors are worth every moment. So many people want to turn away from the impossible to comprehend and self medicate with
mundane reality programs or sitcoms.  THIS was a reality program in the true sense of reality.
Seven decades later, we are still impacted by the threat of nuclear war; but this WAS nuclear war. All the diatribe about preventing nuclear war?  It already began on August 6, 1945 at 8:15AM.

Somewhere out there is a moment in time that should be honored. I'll light my candle and say a prayer and hang an origami crane in the window in memory of a little Japanese girl who died of cancer before she could finish her thousand cranes. People aligned to make those cranes for her. I suggest that we all take a moment and bless those that survived those awful days in 1945 and those that died instantly or slowly in the dawn of the nuclear age. Did we save lives? yes.  Did we take lives? The count is still undetermined.

The rest of the folks that would rather avoid such hard to handle points in history, can walk on.  I will pause in profound respect. I make no bones about being profoundly anti War, and Anti Nuke, but I realize, that it was complex. WW2 was a time of wickedness on both European and Japanese fronts with megalomaniacs at the helm. Japan was intriguing because besides the Emperor being considered Divine, their very lifestyle and custom of non surrender determined destiny. The supreme commander who would not surrender, committed hare kare shortly after the armistice was signed Pity. He could have surrendered a few days earlier, still killed himself and saved hundreds of thousands of lives

In the echoes of history, who will take responsibility for this enormous loss? When asked for his thoughts on the birth of the nuclear age, Albert Einstein quietly responded. “We have changed all save our mode of thinking and therefore we drift toward unparalled catastrophe.” Sorry if I'm a buzz kill, but have we learned anything?