Hiroshima

Last weekend, I saw Part 2 of the documentary, Hiroshima on Channel News Asia. There was a tragic scene that particularly saddened me. There was this woman survivor who watched helplessly as her young daughter, trapped under some beams begged her not to leave her as the flames engulfed her. All the time she was wailing desperately to her daughter to forgive her because she did not have the courage to die together with her.

I am reminded of an essay my GP teacher asked us to write on the topic, “War has never achieved anything, and never will. Do you agree?” That was more than 30 years ago. I cannot remember what I wrote then, but if I had to write that essay again, I am quite sure what my answer will be.

“But man at war with man hears not
The love song that they sing.
Oh hush the noise, ye men of strife,
And hear the angels sing”
- Sarah Harrison, The Flowers of the Field


“And as he sat on upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?

And Jesus answered and said unto them ….. And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines and pestilences, and earthquakes in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows.”
- Matthew 24: 3 - 8