Sixty years ago, American atomic bombs destroyed two Japanese cities and more than 200,000 innocent civilians. It is a catastrophe God calls us to remember clearly. Remembering is essential to our hope for the future. We must look again at the horror of what we did--not to bestir our guilt, but to see beyond that tragedy to the vision of life on this planet as God envisions it. The people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki have embodied that vision as they have rebuilt their shattered world. Their gift to us has been their ability to rise above their suffering and national pride to reach out to us in the name of peace, to remind us of the terrible price that war and the threat nuclear weapons poses to the survival of humanity. They have given us their courage, their hope, and their incredible good will instead of hatred; their commitment to reconciliation instead of revenge. They ask us to join them to rid the world of atomic weapons because they know the dreadful truth much better than we do.
Today we face not only the threat of a war between nuclear powers, but of nuclear accidents or terrorist attacks. America must take the lead in eliminating atomic weapons. That is not a simple thing to do. We cannot dis-invent the bomb. But the enormous creativity and intense effort that went into the making of the bomb must be turned toward the un-making of the nuclear threat. We must do all in our power through patient negotiation, treaties and increasingly effective verification to reduce and eventually eliminate nuclear weapons. Strong, visible, dedicated leadership is the key. Can we do that?
Einstein said, "We are like infants playing with dynamite...and thus we drift toward unparalleled catastrophe." The possession of atomic weapons presupposes leaders of superhuman wisdom and self-control. Democracy accepts that our leaders are fallible human beings who, all too often, like the people who elect them, know not what they do. But they can be held to account, can have second thoughts, can right their mistakes. But no one can put to right mass death and the contamination of the earth.
In our national proclivity for optimism and happy endings, we do not like to look into the heart of darkness. But we dare not succumb to collective denial. We need to wake up to the dreadful power of annihilation that these weapons possess. There are some clouds that do not have a silver lining! On this anniversary, we must let the people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki -- dead and living -- be our teachers. With humility and with God's help, we must let them lead us. For we, too, are the children of the atomic bomb.
