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The younger we are, the less history means to us. It isn’t until we have lived through a few history-making events that we begin paying attention to the world outside our tiny bubble of self-absorption. The first historically significant event to break through my bubble was President Kennedy’s assassination. From that point on, world events began to bookmark my life. The world became smaller on that day. Or my awareness of the world grew larger.
Each generation bookmarks their history from a new event. And each new event eclipses the ones before it. The skin-crawling enormity of 9/11 looks tame on the pages of a history book. Atrocities are no modern invention. Cataclysmic destruction is not new. In fact, nothing the United States has endured equals the horror that we visited upon Japan 20 years before history became real for me.
I learned about Hiroshima and Nagasaki in school. The words represented the end of WWII and the opening of a nuclear Pandora’s box. But never did the horror invade my being as it did while I watched the HBO documentary film, “White Light, Black Rain.”
Writer and director, Steven Okazaki, has combined old footage of the bombings and their aftermath with heart-breakingly poignant interviews with 14 Japanese survivors, now in their 70s and 80s, as well as from 4 Americans who were somewhat unwittingly involved in the destruction. We hear first-hand accounts from these people about a moment frozen in time for them. This was the moment their bubble of innocence was shattered. It was the moment that destroyed all hope of a normal life for the 210,000 survivors of the two attacks, 85% of whom were civilians.
The bombs pulverized Nagasaki, a city with a population of about 263,000, and Hiroshima, population 350,000. Rescue workers scavenged to find the living among the pieces and parts and ash of corpses buried under collapsed structures. Orphaned children were shoved into under-staffed and under-supplied medical facilities, where their burns were scraped and medicated by horrified aid workers. Their injuries caused a lifetime of pain, disfigurement, and abandonment. No one wanted to look at them or to be reminded of that infamous day. These 14 survivors are remarkable in their acceptance of their fate, in their lack of animosity toward Americans, and in their ability to live their lives despite constant pain, radiation sickness, multiple cancers, and humiliating deformities. Remarkably, this documentary is not an indictment of American brutality. It recognizes Japan’s role in the war and acknowledges Truman’s rationale “to save as many American lives as possible.” “White Lights, Black Rain” is a powerful reminder that the world has now magnified by 400,000 the nuclear capacity to reproduce the horror of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
If I could have one dream come true, it would be to lock each and every world leader into the same screening room, where they would be forced to view this documentary and consider the ramifications of a world that is perched on the edge of damnation.
Rangewriter 
JFK’s assassination was it for me, as well. I’ll never forget that day. Nor will I ever forget my first viewing of Hiroshima, Mon Amour. You’ve piqued my interest in White Light, Black Rain.
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Amen to it all, Linda; well said, especially your last paragraph. From WW II on, I recall all events you named, some first hand, and more. Seems both people and their leaders mostly bury their heads or memories of the past
when facing new crises. The more we do that, the greater the consequences of bad decisions made because of it.
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Thank you both, Bob & Carolyn.This film went beyond anything I’d ever seen before, perhaps because it really connected on a personal level with the victims.
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I’ve always been amazed that the U.S. is the only country to have used a nuclear weapon — twice — on civilians. Was it really justified ? I’m not sure I buy Truman’s justification.
I recall the Kennedy brothers bringing us once more to the brink with their demand that the then USSR remove rockets from Cuba. While the U.S. did the same thing to others.
I fear we never learn from the past.
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Sybil, I know Truman’s action has been questioned. I’m not informed enough to even begin to second guess. What is amazing is the complacence of the Japanese victims who think it was a justified act of war. That must be a cultural difference, because I can’t imagine Americans OR Europeans forgiving such a transgression, no matter what the circumstances.
What frightens me most now, is the marginalized countries (or fiefdoms) that have access to this awful destructive force. The genie is out of the bottle and it is no genie, it’s a whirling dervish of hell waiting to leap into the dance of destruction.
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We should never let this happen again and done every thing in our power toward that purpose. In terms of milestone events for me – RFK and MLK assassinations, walking on the moon, Watergate hearings, Iran hostage crisis, Challenger explosion, Berlin Wall and of course 9/11.
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Yup, those all resonant for me as well, however, the Watergate hearings are a bit murky because they seemed to drag on forever. I can certainly remember the exact place I was when I learned of the Challenger explosion and 9/11, and I couldn’t pull myself away from the TV footage of the Berlin Wall coming down. I remember where I was when I learn of RFK’s assassination, too, now that I think of it. The beginnings of history for me.
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I’m going to watch this movie, Linda, thanks. I saw something similar years ago called Black Rain (1989 Japanese movie with subtitles not the movie with Michael Douglas). As I recall it also follows a few survivors and the aftereffects. I agree with you about locking all the world leaders in a room but not just to show them this movie! I was only about a year old when JFK was assassinated so don’t remember it first hand. I’ve gotten more interested in history the older I get. I do remember exactly where I was when Challenger exploded and 9/11, too.
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Geralyn, I wasn’t interested in history until adulthood either. I wonder how much of youthful apathy towards history has to do with the way it is taught. But I was even disinterested in my own history. I could stick my head in an oven for all the amazing family history stories I heard as a kid and promptly forgot the details of.
The movie is difficult to stomach at times, but it is very well done and the production values are terrific. Just be prepared to cover your eyes now and then.
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JFK’s killing was my awakening, too – I was ten years old. I often wonder, had Truman truly been able to envision what those bombs would do, would he really have done it? We can’t ever know or envision the real end of our every choice. It might help to remember that Japan did not offer to surrender after the first bomb; this for me undid my personal dream of us blowing up an uninhabited island first as an example. The military in charge of Japanese policy were hard men indeed — anything needing two nukes to “tenderize” is very difficult to reason with in the heat of war! I read the book “Black Rain” as a young adult and remembered it with horror in the Reagan years when loose commentary about “surviving” a nuclear bomb was being tossed about. I often have to cover my eyes when not in a movie theater, just to preserve some semblance of mental health.
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Syrbal, it valid to question just how much Truman understood about what he was about to unleash. I know that he knew it was horrible, but perhaps it is impossible to comprehend the scope of hell until it has been observed. You are also right to remind us that the Japanese did have the option of surrendering after the first bomb. Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts and your personal experience.
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Mine was also JFK, RFK & MLK, but 9/11 really hit me hard! That attack happened at home. I don’t think most of us thought it possible. Maybe I’m just that naïve.
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We all were stunned by 9/11, rightfully so because we had never suffered an attack on the mainland and also because we were clueless about the suffering our presence and posturing in other countries was causing. I am appalled, though, when I think of how many Americans were killed in 9/11 versus how many American soldiers have died and been forever damaged in the wars waged as a result of the attack, not to mention the civilian casualties and disrupted countries that are the result of our revenge.
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“White Lights, Black Rain” is a very powerful documentary. Unfortunately I don’t really think it will help much to lock in all world leaders in the same room. We human beings will always have a hard time seeing beyond our own personal bubble. I guess opening up the eyes – as you kind of suggest here – is the first step.
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You’re right about locking up the world leaders, Otto. But I just like the image this idea paints in my mind. Thanks for a breath of reality.
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