The shadow is fading...

Sixty years ago this week the second and third nuclear tests were conducted over the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan. Hot searing gases burst forth from a hypocenter nearly 1,000 feet above the ground. The glazing on roof tiles bubbled up. Houses burst into flames. The skin of people on the ground flash boild and started dripping to the ground. A shadow was burnt onto the stairs of a bank - a customer sitting on the front step, waiting for the bank to open, left her shadow for eternity.

However, this shadow had started to fade and the bank was rebuilt. The artifact must be preserved indoors. This is not the only shadow fading...

The shadow of Hiroshima represents the awareness of the people of Hiroshima, Japan, and the world. I think of the motto of the POW/MIA movement: "We shall not forget." However, we are forgetting. The realities of the war are horrendous, so many prefer not to hear about the zombie like figures wondering the streets of Hiroshima with their skin dripping off their outstretched arms. This is war! We prefer not to think about it.

It is important to remember the costs of war - including on the soldiers who carry it out on both sides. It is important not to forget what price has been paid to settle disputes by women, children, peace lovers and war mongers alike.

People in Hiroshima are forgetting what this meant - and people in many other parts of the world have never learnt the lessons of war. We rely again and again on the hard power to bandage over misunderstandings...