Sadako Peace Day
2003
by David Krieger*, August 6, 2003
|
Hibakusha
Do Not Just Happen
by David Krieger
For every hibakusha
there is a pilot
for every hibakusha
there is a planner
for every hibakusha
there is a bombardier
for every hibakusha
there is a bomb designer
for every hibakusha
there is a missile maker
for every hibakusha
there is a missileer
for every hibakusha
there is a targeter
for every hibakusha
there is a commander
for every hibakusha
there is a button pusher
for every hibakusha
many must contribute
for every hibakusha
many must obey
for every hibakusha
many must be silent
|
Welcome to our 9th annual Sadako Peace Day on the occasion of
the 58th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima.
In this beautiful garden, named for a young girl,
Sadako Sasaki, who died as a result of the bombing of Hiroshima,
we remember Sadako and all innocent victims of war. These children
all have names. Their lives, as all lives, were precious. They
were not meant to be collateral damage or statistics of war. All
war kills, and no war spares the innocent, nuclear war least of
all.
It matters that we remember these victims and
these historical events. It also matters how we remember. We live
in a culture where victory is celebrated, but victory by means
of nuclear devastation is no cause for celebration. It is cause
for sober reflection on our past so that we may not intentionally
or inadvertently destroy our future, nor the future of our children
and of those yet unborn.
Nuclear weapons have given us new responsibilities.
The Nuclear Age, now 58 years old, requires us to accept personal
responsibility for preserving our species and all life from the
utter devastation that we know from Hiroshima and Nagasaki is
the result of using nuclear weapons.
Today we remember the hibakusha, the survivors
of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, whose prayer is fervent: “Never
Again! We must not repeat the evil.”
We remember also that hibakusha do not just happen.
It is our job to break the silence, to speak up for the sanity
of eliminating nuclear weapons, to urge our country to be a leader
in this effort, rather than an obstacle. It is significant challenge,
one that each of us is called upon to accept for the good of all
and for all that is good.
*David Krieger is president of the Nuclear Age Peace
Foundation (www.wagingpeace.org). This is an edited version of
his welcoming remarks at the 9th annual Sadako Peace Day, held
in Santa Barbara on August 6, 2003.
|
