Heroes of Hiroshima

Hiroshima today is a beautiful city. You don’t need to be an ace in history to know that this was the city where the first atomic bomb was ever dropped – and I’ve recently learned that the citizens of the city remembered it to the minute – August 6th 1945, 8:15AM. When and how that happened they will never forget, and we shouldn’t also. A great museum and peace park now exists in the city and it is a great visit to learn about the events.

Generations pass and our society re-invent social behaviours, discover some technical gadgets and mostly forget about everything else – not because we are not clever enough, but it’s just the way it is – we have short memory: we individually live a relatively short life and it’s what stays is histories that can be brought back, but not fully and experientially, and surely we can always decide the ones to propagate and the ones to bury.

Happily many has been done so we don’t forget what an atomic attack means for a city, a country, and specially for the individuals and families there. But there is much more in Hiroshima than the bomb and the violence propagated by it — there’s much more we can learn, other stories that should be propagated so we live peace not only because we want to avoid violence.

I had the opportunity to talk with Yumiko, a citizen of Hiroshima who is bringing those stories up to the next generations, showing the side of peace education that goes beyond the remembrance of violence.

HEROES OF HIROSHIMA (07′ 42”)
July 11th 2010 – Interview by Augusto Cuginotti

Yumiko Sasaki is a citizen of Hiroshima. In this interview she shares her experience of peace education for children in the city and her vision in which Hiroshima can be an inspiration to the world from more than only the history of the atomic bomb. Yumiko’s peace education for children is inspired by the heroes of Hiroshima, the people who survived and became models for peace.

For more stories from Hiroshima please check: the Spirit of Hiroshima.