Hiroshima

Hiroshima. The name says more than I ever could. We walked where they died. Where they were incinerated. Where "it" happened. The images are familiar. The emotions of being with the charred clothing of the dead and the words of the survivors was surreal. Everyone will take from it what they will.

The children's memorial where a child was ringing the bell was poignant. The bell clapper was in the shape of an origami crane in homage to a young girl who was a suffering survivor of the Bomb.

When a bird flew from the Hiroshima Victims Memorial Cenopath I chose to see it as a sign of hope.

We rejoined the present by grabbing a beer in a little self serve bar and game room while we appreciated our current lives. The beer dispensers were old coke machines from the 50's and 60's.

I promised myself to get some good towels and was shocked at the softness if the Uchino marshmallow towels. When I went to get the discount for duty free purchases I was surprised by the receipt being returned to me in a decorated paper along with an origami gift. It was presented with a polite bow.

As we left the harbor that evening I watched the sun go down behind the mountains while we ate on the back deck. Looking at the shoreline I gasped a little bit at the sight of a pillar of smoke with a dark cloud at the top.

I had a dream of seeing an atomic bomb explode two nights before. I had just left Hiroshima. I was reminded that in spite of memorials, doves, beers and soft towels we can never forget the past.