Never again

Hiroshima.
The very word brings pictures of total destruction, of death, of pain, of needless hurt. I have been to both Nagasaki and Hiroshima. Strangely, although the bomb dropped on Nagasaki, I couldnt see any traces of what once happened. The park was peaceful, atomic ruin seemed far away. The city looked old, as if itd been there for centuries, I wondered around the many historic sites. Hiroshima on the other hand, atomic ruin was always in your face. Everywhere you looked, signposts "This building survived", photos, exhibitions... The peace park in Hiroshima is now the centre of the city. Hiroshima seemed to be still in moarning for the bomb, whereas Nagasaki seemed to have tried to move on, get on with life. Im not saying either prospective is wrong, after all, it was only my thoughts after visiting them.

The dropping of the Atomic Bomb was wrong. Not only because it destroyed lives, cities, hopes... killing thousands, injuring thousands, and troubling victims for years to come. It shouldnt have been dropped because Japan was losing the war. It had lost Okinawa. Japanese people were starving and it great poverty. Soldiers were declining. It didnt have much left to fight with. I believe the same as what an American official against the dropping of the bomb at the time said, as written in the Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum "Japan is a losing nation. I believe the Japanese people are just looking for a way to surrender with minimum lose of face. I think we should give them a chance to do this before taking any action." Japan was loosing the war. There was no need for Hiroshima, and certainly, NO need for a larger bomb to be dropped on Nagasaki.

The American argument for dropping the bomb was that if they tried to enter mainland Japan, then the American casulties would be greater than that of the bomb itself. They had lost many lives in the Battle for Okinawa, and mainland Japan was only bound to be worse. Maybe this is true. But Japan was losing, running out of ideas and supplies inorder to fight, however determined the Americans thought they were. Even the Japanese people were no longer supporting the war. Japan had had enough.

No need for Hiroshima.
The dropping of a more powerful bomb on Nagasaki days afterwards was evil.
If only Nagasaki's clouds on the day of the bomb hadnt cleared up. The American pilots were about to call it a day and turn back as they couldnt see any of their targets in kokura or nagasaki. If only the clouds hadnt broke.

Japan itself has started to join the race in Nuclear Arms. Many people argue, how can Japan, the only nation in the world who has suffered the effects of the bomb, contribute to making more? People say its inconsiderate to those who survived. People say its inconsiderate to those who live. But, I can understand why Japan has started. With the threat of North Korea next door, always displaying its nuclear bombs, and threatening and kidnapping Japanese, with Japans many disputed islands, with its unease with most of its neighbours excluding South Korea, I hope that Japan, who has remained a peaceful country since the war, will remain a peaceful country. Lets hops it is just self-defence.

People say ABOLISH THE NUCLEAR THREAT! But, the scientists made the bomb. We know how it works, we know the power it possesses, we know how to make it and we know it can protect us from threat. We know too much. We cannot abolish something that has been already made known. Even if all the WMDs in the world got demolished, they'd always be the threat of someone making another one secretly.
We know.
We cannot forget.
There can never be a Nuclear Free World.

I think in order to try and erase the threat of Nuclear War, which could honestly wipe out the human species, we should educate students about it. I never learnt about the Atomic Bomb at school. Hell, the only history I learnt about in Secondary school was about Slaves, which is a good lesson to be taught, but I couldnt learn about other things in history, coz then my school would be nicknamed RACIST. i only learnt English History in Primary School,and not in any great depth. If we teach people about the bomb, people will know the effects. If we only trust that people will learn themselves about the bomb and dont bother to teach them as a nation, the effects will be dangerous.