Hiroshima

Japan, the very little that I am seeing, is so clean! And it is quiet! The people I have watched at the transportation centers, bus, train and ferry station, actually wait in line to board. There is no shoving and pushing.

Redemption. That is the word of the day. Yesterday when I arrived to Hiroshima the first thoughts were an awareness of the beauty of the city. It is a huge city with beautiful buildings. Their is actually character in the architecture here. There are trees and green! There is open space. In 60 plus years a lot has changed here. I visited a beautiful garden yesterday. There was a pond and a pathway to enjoy the greenery and water. There was a pathway of cherry blossoming trees. Ah...signs of spring are present in Hiroshima. So all this beauty and then the historical backdrop of the first A-bomb. The city is doing what they set out to do and for me that is the work of redemption. The city is called, The City of Peace, and they are committed to educating the world of the atomic horrors. From a visitors perspective and only a short visit I think they are helping to redeem tradgegy. They remember what happened and in the process they are creating new memories. The past must be used for the good of the future. That is the tone I have felt at the Peace Memorial. I have been surprised today by this tone--a tone of redemption--because I would have expected blaming and anger. I guess coming as an American citizen I bring with me that sense of sorrow for what has been done on unsuspecting generations. I sense that my coming to this place is a part of the continuing reconciliation between past warring peoples. I feel humbled as a citizen of the USA in this place. I am humbled by a space of grace rather than bitterness. There is sadness and regret. But there is hope too. Just as Spring is in the air this 15th day of March....so too is another kind of spring...redemption. Thank God for the people of the world who take suffering and allow it to create new life for themselves and others.

Just some random thoughts as I close out my 30 free minutes of internet time at the International People Center across the way from the Peace Memorial Museum.