Hiroshima Day – August 6

BY PAULINE LALLY, SP

Social scientist, Brené Brown says we need to show up for collective moments of joy and sorrow so that we can bear witness to inextricable human connections.  That’s why we go to funerals, protests, sports events, concerts, Sunday Mass.  Collective celebrations and anniversaries – both joyful and painful – contribute to a life filled with a sense of connection.

That’s what August 6 does for me each summer.  With others we remember the horrific dropping of a nuclear bomb on Hiroshima, Japan that razed the entire city to the ground.  Three days later another atomic bomb was dropped on nearby Nagasaki resulting in blood-curdling carnage and unendurable horror.  We must never forget that.  We must never repeat it. Our collective assemblies around the world on the anniversaries of those days gives us a sense that we are bigger than ourselves. 

In Kingston this year our gathering was small but significant.  God bless Susanne Cliff-Jungling and Wendy Luella Perkins who each year facilitate the ceremony in Skeleton Park with meaningful readings, soulful songs composed by Wendy, sharing and silence.  It was a sacred connection with each other, the victims of the nightmarish disaster as well as the ones who orchestrated such a massive devastation and unbelievable horror. “Our broken heart is connected to every broken heart that has known pain from the beginning of time.” (B.B.)

This day of remembrance always renews my commitment to work for peace, justice, decency, and respect for all with the Divine Mystery in which we live and work and find our meaning.

Sister Pauline Lally (3rd from the left) and Sister Una Byrne (far right) in attendance at Hiroshima Day. Photos courtesy Sister Una Byrne.