Boom
Yesterday was the anniversary of the United States dropping the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. Tomorrow will be the anniversary of the second bomb falling on Nagasaki. Nearly a month later, September 2, Japan surrendered. It took close to a month for that decision to be made. In retrospect, given the ferocity of the violence of those two bombs, the surrender seems a long time coming.
The bomb was my companion growing up. I read books. Hiroshima, On the Beach, Canticle for Liebowitz, to name a few. I knew all about Bikini Atoll, thanks to Life Magazine. I don’t recall any duck and cover drills, however, in school. Maybe it’s because I went to Catholic schools as a child. I was being thoroughly prepped with the idea that death could come knocking at any moment, and your soul needed to be prepared, and the bomb was just one way of many in which you could meet your maker.
All that seems a long way off now. Lots of countries have the bomb, and it feels less and less likely anyone will use it. First of all, it’s a big, messy device and we’re still pretty good at waging war with old school ordinance. Secondly, it appears there are other, more sophisticated ways to cripple an enemy. It can be done from the comfort of home and only requires an internet connection, and doesn’t that feel civilized?