Remembering and thinking forward

One year ago today I was in Nagasaki, Japan. The site of the second atomic bomb explosion. It was the day Trump won the US election. The rain was persistent and suited my mood. I walked the distance from the JR station to the park. I walked around the peace park and contemplated the future. I didn't go to the museum, because there were crowds of school children and I didn't feel like I could handle being around people. I felt so solitary and alone. I was drained by the experience and I wanted to take the train back to Tokyo that evening.

Statue of a woman and her child, Nagasaki Japan

The Women at home prayed for victory as their men departed for the battlefields.But then the blood of countless peoples was shed on the vast continents and the far away islands. Finally,in 1945 as the war escalated,it brought the tragedies of the Okinawa islands followed by the inhuman atomic bomb attacks over Hiroshima on the 6th and Nagasaki on the 9th of August. Ah!On that unforgettable day,in an instantaneous blast of indescribable heat,the bodies of tens of thousands of men and women, mothers and children were hideously torn and burnt to death. After more than forty years,the agony continues even yet.Danger signs of a second nuclear war permeate our very existence.The earth stands at the brink of total oblivion. We must not allow any more war!Nor the use of atomic weapons!Let us guard our precious green earth and preserve all life of every kind. We erect this relief,still hearing the bursting cries on that day of each of those women long silenced in death.Bringing together all the turmoil from the depths of their tortured hearts and minds,we pledge ourselves never to repeat that disaster. The Assembly to Build the Nagasaki Peace Monument the Mothers and Children 

Today was another boring day at work, but when I remembered where I was 1 year ago I got excited about the future and where I will be 1 year from now.