Today I spoke with a verteran who was one of the first American soldiers to enter Nagasaki after the bomb was dropped in August 1945. He spoke with passion and fear and dismay of what he saw and the future of what will happen if the world goes nuclear against Iran or some group detonates a dirty bomb in a populated area. I was struck by his passion, his fear, his life. He is sick. Radiation is a killer. He said out of 10 soldiers that marched through Nagasaki, 9 are now dead.
I was thinking of Aceh. Of tsunamis of turmoil. Japan, Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, atomic testing…we only have to blame ourselves. Who do we blamb for nature? God?
This Aceh man rode his bike thorugh a destroyed city. The destruction lingered after the tsunami. It still lingers in me.